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THE 
 
 AMERICAN CHURCHES 
 
 THE BULWARKS 
 
 AMERICAN SLAVERY 
 
 BY JAMES GK BITHSTEY. 
 
 it 
 
 THIRD AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 REVISED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Contorb, 1. i 
 
 HJS1 
 
 PUBLISHED BY PARKER PILLSBURY, 
 
 1885. 
 

INTRODUCTION. 
 
 BY PARKER PILLSBURY. 
 
 The following work is reproduced without apology. It 
 is needed as authentic anti-slavery history, and as showing 
 beyond all dispute who were most zealous defenders of 
 American slavery, and the most virulent opponents of the 
 active abolitionists. 
 
 The author, Hon. James G. Birney, the only truly anti- 
 slavery man ever nominated for the presidency while slavery 
 lasted, was a native of Kentucky, and connected both by 
 birth and marriage with many of its first families. His ed- 
 ucation completed, he spent fifteen years in Hunts ville, Ala- 
 bama, a successful lawyer, and for a time solicitor-general, 
 besides being tendered a seat on the bench of the supreme 
 court. 
 
 He was appointed by the legislature to nominate, at his 
 sole discretion, the faculty of the State University. Return- 
 ing to Kentucky, he was called to the Professorship of Polit- 
 ical Economy, Rhetoric, and Belles-Lettres in Centre College 
 at Danville in that state. And those who knew him testified 
 that •* his character and Christian influence were quite equal 
 to his public standing." But public and private virtues, 
 intellectual eminence, and the highest lay official positions 
 in the Presbyterian church, were all lost in becoming a 
 repentant slaveholder and an active, earnest abolitionist. 
 
 About the commencement of the wondrous career of Will- 
 iam Lloyd Garrison and the establishment by him of The 
 Liberator in Boston, Mr. Theodore D. Weld, one of our most 
 eloquent and powerful anti-slavery lecturers and writers, en- 
 countered Mr. Birney while yet a slaveholder, and held some 
 searching discussions with him and his minister, also a slave- 
 holder, on the right of one man to hold absolute property in 
 his fellow-man. The argument began with the minister in 
 the absence of Birney, who welcomed Weld to the parson- 
 age till he should return. He came in a few days, and 
 
then the minister invited him and another lawyer to meet 
 Weld at dinner at his house. 
 
 Here, also, the right of property in man problem was in 
 order. But to the stunning surprise of the minister, he 
 learned that Birney was already fully convinced, intellect- 
 ually, that only the right of the kidnapper could be urged for 
 holding such property ; and that kidnapped human chattels 
 could never be owned, or held as lawful possessions, though 
 sanctified by transfer and conveyance through a thousand 
 generations ! 
 
 The discussion continued, earnest and more earnest, all day 
 and evening, even the minister's wife leaning to the Birney 
 side; tea was had and drank; and at a late hour Mr. Birney 
 invited Weld to dinner next day with him, and to come to 
 his office in the morning. And he went in the morning and 
 found his host in profound meditation, sitting alone in the 
 inner' office, and ready to confess that he had slept only little 
 the past night, but that he was fully assured of his duty, and 
 that his slaves must have their freedom, then numbering, as 
 Mr. Weld now thinks, forty-two. 
 
 Mr. Birney had for some years been giving much thought 
 to the African colonization system. He had even accepted 
 an agency in that iniquitous and slavery devised and slavery 
 cherished enterprise, his field of operations including five of 
 the large slaveholding states. But he soon found himself 
 laboring in the interest of a movement adapted and intended 
 to perpetuate the very curse he himself deplored, and was 
 working, as he supposed, to destroy. 
 
 So, having already liberated his slaves, and generously 
 provided for their well-being and well-doing so far as he 
 was able, he espoused the cause of "immediate and uncon- 
 ditional emancipation," and by purse, pen, and voice com- 
 menced its proclamation. Driven from his native state for his 
 anti-slavery fidelity, he crossed over into Ohio and estab- 
 lished an anti-slavery newspaper. But he was repeatedly 
 mobbed, his press, types, paper, and other office property 
 being taken out and sunk in the Ohio river, the city authori- 
 ties in large numbers evidently sanctioning, as did many of 
 
the church officials actually sanctify by their presence and 
 approval, the shameful outrages. A well filled pamphlet now 
 before me, printed at the time and on the spot, fully war- 
 rants all these statements. 
 
 The following is a specimen of the handbills that placard- 
 ed the bulletin boards and walls : 
 
 "A Fugitive from Justice" 100 Dollars Reward! 
 
 The above sum will be paid for the delivery of one James 
 G. Birney, a fugitive from justice, now abiding in the city of 
 Cincinnati. Said Birney, in ail his associations and feel- 
 ings, is black, although his external appearance is white. 
 The above reward will be paid, and no questions asked, by 
 
 Old Kentucky. 
 
 This was posted on a Sunday morning. The next day the 
 Cincinnati Whig said, editorially, — 
 
 " Public Sentiment. We are informed on indisputable 
 authority that a large number of boarders have left the 
 Franklin House in this city; have left it on account of the re- 
 ception of Mr. Birney, Editor of the Philanthropist as a 
 boarder. There is no doubt an overwhelming majority in 
 the city are opposed to the wild schemes of the abolitionists." 
 
 The proceedings of some of the "anti-abolition meetings," 
 as they were named, showed that they were disgraceful as 
 well as unlawful assemblies, though called and conducted b}^ 
 the authorities and best citizens. One committee, appointed 
 to draft resolutions, contained thirteen men who were mem- 
 bers of Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, Wesleyan Methodist, 
 Svvedenborgian, and Unitarian churches. So was Mr. Birney 
 regarded and rewarded hy his fellow-citizens and fellow- 
 Christiaus, only for liberating and providing for his slaves, 
 and then becoming a faithful abolitionist! Only that and 
 nothing more ! He had experience enough with the churches 
 and clergy to fully warrant the title of his little book, as all 
 who read it will believe without more argument. 
 
 Whoever would see more on the subject, on the whole 
 matter of Slavery and Anti-Slavery as existing in the coun- 
 try forty years ago, are respectfully referred to Acts of the 
 Anti-Slavery Apostles, by Parker Pillsbury, to be had of him 
 at Concord, N. H., price one dollar and -fifty cents. 
 
Publisher's Notice. 
 
 This work is reproduced by Parker Pillsbury, Concord, N. H. : price, 
 single copy, 15 cents ; 2 copies, 25 cents ; 10 copies, 1 dollar. 
 
 Also, for sole, "Acts of the Anti-Slavery Apostles," by Parker Pills- 
 bury : price, postage paid, one dollar and fifty cents. 
 
AMERICAN SLAVERY. 
 
 The extent to which most of the churches in America 
 are involved in the guilt of supporting the slave system 
 is known to but few in this country* So far from being 
 even suspected by the great mass of the religious commu- 
 nity here, it would not be believed but on the most indis- 
 putable evidence. Evidence of this character it is proposed 
 now to present — applying to the Methodist Episcopal, the 
 Baptist, the Presbyterian, and the Protestant Episcopal 
 churches. It is done with a single view to make the 
 British Christian public acquainted with the real state of 
 the case — in order that it may in the most intelligent and 
 effective manner exert the influence it possesses with the 
 .American churches to persuade them to purify themselves 
 from a sin that has greatly debased them, and that threat- 
 ens in the end wholly to destroy them. 
 
 The following memoranda will assist English readers 
 in more readily apprehending the force and scope of the 
 evidence. 
 
 I. Of the twenty-six American states, thirteen are 
 slave states. Of the latter, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, 
 Missouri, and Tennessee (in part), are slave-selling states ; 
 the states south of them are slave-buying and slave-co?i- 
 suming states. 
 
 II. Between the slave-selling and slave-buying states 
 the slave-trade is carried on extensively and systemati- 
 cally. The slave-trader, on completing his purchases for 
 a single adventure, brings the gang together at a conven- 
 ient point; confines the men in double rows to a large 
 chain running between the rows, by means of smaller lat- 
 eral chains tightly riveted around the wrists of the slaves, 
 
 * England— where this pamphlet was first published. 
 
8 
 
 and connected with the principal chain. They are in 
 this way driven along the highways (the small boys, the 
 women, and girls following), without any release from 
 their chains till they arrive at the ultimate place of sale. 
 Here they occupy barracoons, till they are disposed of, one 
 by one, or in lots, to those who will give most for them. 
 
 III. Ministers and office-bearers, and members of 
 churches' are slaveholders — buying and selling slaves 
 (not as the regular slave-trader), but as their convenience 
 or interest may from time to time require. As a general 
 rule, the itinerant preachers in the Methodist church are 
 not permitted to hold slaves — but there are frequent 
 exceptions to the rule, especially of late. 
 
 IV. There are in the United States, about 2,487,113 
 slaves, and 386,069 free people of color. Of the slaves, 
 80.000 are members" of the Methodist church ; 80,000 of 
 the Baptist; and about 40,000 of the other churches. 
 These church members have no exemption from being 
 sold by their owners as other slaves are. Instances are 
 not rare of slaveholding members of churches selling 
 slaves who are members of the same church with them- 
 selves. And members of churches have followed the 
 business of slave-auctioneers. 
 
 V. In most of the slave states the master is not per- 
 mitted formally to emancipate, unless the emancipated 
 person be removed from the state (which makes the 
 formal act unnecessary), or, unless by a special act of the 
 legislature. If, however, he disregard the law, and per- 
 mit the slave to go at liberty and "do" for himself, the 
 law— on the theory that every slave ought to have a mas- 
 ter to see to him — directs him to be sold for the benefit of 
 the state. Instances of this, however, must be very rare. 
 The people are better than their laws — for the writer, 
 during a residence of more than thirty years in the slave 
 states, never knew an instance of such a sale, nor has he 
 ever heard of one that was fully proved to have taken 
 place. 
 
 VI. There is no law in any of the slave states forbid- 
 ding the slaveholder to remove his slaves to a free state ; 
 nor against his giving the slaves themselves a " pass" for 
 that purpose. The laws of some of the free states present 
 obstructions to the settlement of colored persons within 
 
their limits — but these obstructions are not insurmount- 
 able, and if the validity of the laws should be tried in the 
 tribunals, it would be found they are unconstitutional. 
 
 VII. In the slave states a slave cannot be a witness in 
 any case, civil or criminal, in which a white is a party. 
 Neither can a free colored person, except in Louisiana. 
 Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois (free states), make colored 
 persons incompetent as witnesses in any case in which a 
 white is a party. In Ohio, a white person can prove his 
 own ("book") account, not exceeding a certain sum, by 
 his own oath or affirmation. A colored person cannot, as 
 against a white. In Ohio the laws regard all who are 
 mulattoes, or above the grade of mulattoes, as ivhite. 
 
 VIII. There is no law in the slave states forbidding 
 the several church authorities making slaveholding an 
 offence, for which those guilty of it might be excluded 
 from membership. 
 
 The Society of Friends exists in the slave states — it ex- 
 cludes slaveholders. 
 
 The United Brethren exist as a church in Maryland 
 and Virginia, slave states. Their Annual Conference for 
 these two states (in which are thirty preachers) met in 
 February [1840]. The following is an extract from its 
 minutes : — 
 
 " No charge is preferred against any (preachers) except Frank- 
 lin Echard and Moses Michael. 
 
 " It appeared in evidence that Moses Michael was the owner 
 of a female slave, which is contrary to the discipline of our 
 church. Conference therefore resolved, that unless brother 
 Michael manumit or set free such slave in six months, he no 
 longer be considered a member of our church." 
 
 IX. When ecclesiastical councils excuse themselves 
 from acting for the removal of slavery from their respec- 
 tive communions by saying, they cannot legislate for the 
 abolition of slavery ; that slavery is a civil or political in- 
 stitution ; that it " belongs to Csesar," and not to the 
 church to put an end to it, — they shun the point at issue. 
 To the church member who is a debauchee, a drunkard, 
 a seducer, a murderer, they find no difficulty in saying, — 
 "We cannot indeed proceed against your person, or your 
 property — this belongs to Caesar, to the tribunals of the 
 country, to the legislature; but we can suspend or 
 
10 
 
 wholly cut you off from the communion of the church, 
 with a view to your repentance and its purification." If 
 a white member should by force or intimidation, day after 
 day, deprive another white member of his property, the 
 authorities of the churches would expel him from their 
 body, should he refuse to make restitution or reparation, 
 although it could not be enforced except through the 
 tribunals, over which they 4iave no control. There is, 
 then, nothing to prevent these authorities from saying to 
 the slave-holder, '' Cease being a slaveholder and remain 
 in the church, or continue a slaveholder and go out of it. 
 You have your choice.'' 
 
 X. The slave states make it penal to teach the slaves 
 to read. So also some of them to teach the free colored 
 people to read. Thus a free colored parent may suffer the 
 penalty for teaching his own children to read even the 
 Scriptures. None of the slave-holding churches, or re- 
 ligious bodies, so far as is known, have, at any time, 
 remonstrated with the legislatures against this iniquitous 
 legislation, or petitioned for its repeal or modification. 
 Nor have they reproved or questioned such of their mem- 
 bers, as, being also members of the legislatures, sanctioned 
 such legislation by their votes. 
 
 XI. There is no systematic instruction of the slave- 
 members of churches, either orally or in any other way. 
 
 XII. Uniting with a church makes no change in the 
 condition of slaves at home. They are thrown back just 
 as before, among their old associates, and subjected to 
 their corrupting influences. 
 
 XIII. But little pains are taken to secure their attend- 
 ance at public worship on Sundays. 
 
 XIV. The "house-servants" are rarely present at 
 family worship ; the " field-hands," never. 
 
 XV. It is only one here and there who seems to have 
 any intelligent views of the nature of Christianity, or of 
 a future life. 
 
 XVI. In the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and 
 Episcopal churches, the colored people, during service, 
 sit in a particular part of the house, now generally known 
 as the negro pew. They are not permitted to sit in any 
 other, nor to hire or purchase pews as other people, nor 
 would they be permitted to sit, even if invited, in the pews 
 of white persons. This applies to all colored persons, 
 
11 
 
 whether members or not, and even to licensed ministers of 
 their respective connections. The "negro pew" is almost 
 as rigidly kept up in the free states as in the slave. 
 
 XVII. In some of the older slave states, as Virginia 
 and South Carolina, churches, in their corporate character, 
 hold slaves, who are generally hired out for the support of 
 the minister. The following is taken from the Charleston 
 Courier of Februarj^ 12th, 1835. 
 
 Field Negroes, by Thomas Gadsden. 
 On Tuesday, the 17th instant, will be sold, at the north of the 
 Exchange, at ten o'clock, a prime gang often negroes, accustomed 
 to the culture of cotton and provisions, belonging to the Indepen- 
 dent Church, in Christ's Church Parish. . . Feb. 6. 
 
 XVIII. Nor are instances wanting in which negroes 
 are bequeathed for the benefit of the Indians, as the fol- 
 lowing Chancery notice, taken from a Savannah (Geo.) 
 paper will show. 
 
 " Bryan Superior Court. 
 Between John J. Maxwell and others, Executors of "") 
 
 Ann Pray, complainants, and L in 
 
 Mary Sleigh and others, Devisees and Legatees, under f equity. 
 the will of Ann Pray, defendants. J 
 
 "A Bill having been filed "for the distribution of the estate of 
 the Testatrix, Ann Pray, and it appearing that among other lega- 
 cies in her will, is the following:, viz., a legacy of one fourth of 
 certain negro slaves to the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Domestic [Foreign it probably should have been] Missions, for 
 the purpose of sending the gospel to the healhen,.and particularly 
 to the Indians of this continent. It is on motion of the solicitors 
 of the complainants ordered, that all persons claiming the said 
 legacy, do appear and answer the bill of the complainants, within 
 four months from this day. And it is ordered that this order be 
 published in a public Gazette of the city of Savannah, and in one 
 of the Gazettes of Philadelphia, once a month for four months. 
 "Extract from the minutes, Dec. 2nd, 1832. 
 "John Smith, c. s. c. b. c." — (The bequest was not accepted.) 
 
 INFLUENCES UNDER WHICH THE AMERICAN 
 CHURCHES HAVE BEEN BROUGHT. 
 
 Charleston {City) Gazette.—" We protest againt the assumption 
 — the unwarrantable assumption— that slavery is ultimately to be 
 extirpated from the Southern states. Ultimate abolitionists are 
 enemies of the South, the same in kind, and only less in degree, 
 than immediate abolitionists." 
 
 Washington (City) Telegraph.— " As a man, a Christian, and a 
 citizen, we believe that slavery is right; that the condition of the 
 slaveholding states is the best existing organization of civil 
 society." 
 
12 
 
 Chancellor Harper, of South Carolina. — " It is the order of 
 nature, and of GOI), that the being of superior faculties and knowl- 
 edge, and therefore of superior power, should control and dispose 
 of those who are inferior. It is as much in the order of nature 
 that men should enslave each other, as that other animals should 
 prey upon each other." 
 
 Columbia (S. C.) Telescope. — " Let us declare, through the pub- 
 lic journals of our country, that the question of slavery is not, and 
 shall not be* open to discussion ; that the system is deep-rooted 
 among us, and must remain forever ; that the very moment any 
 private individual attempts to lecture upon its evils and immoral- 
 ity, and the necessity of putting means in operation to secure us 
 from them, in the same moment his tongue shall be cut out and 
 cast upon a dunghill." 
 
 Augusta (Geo.) Chronicle. — "He [Amos Dresser] should have 
 been hung up as high as Haman, to rot upon the gibbet, until the 
 wind whistled through his bones. The cry of the whole South 
 should be death, instant death, to the abolitionist, wherever 
 he is caught." 
 
 [Amos Dresser, now a missionary in Jamaica, was a 
 theological student at Lane Seminary, near Cincinnati. 
 In the vacation (August, 1835) he undertook to sell Bibles 
 in the state of Tennessee, with a view to raise means 
 further to continue his studies. Whilst there, he fell 
 under suspicion of being an abolitionist, was arrested by 
 the Vigilance Committee, whilst attending a religious 
 meeting in the neighborhood of Nashville, the capital of 
 the state, and after an afternoon and evening's inquisition 
 condemned to receive twenty lashes on his naked body. 
 The sentence was executed on him, between eleven and 
 twelve o'clock on Saturday night, in the presence of most 
 of the committee, and of an infuriated and blaspheming 
 mob. The Vigilance Committee (an unlawful association) 
 consisted of sixty persons. Of these, twenty-seven were 
 members of churches ; one, a religious teacher, another, 
 the elder, who but a few days before, in the Presbyterian 
 church, handed Mr. Dresser the bread and wine at the 
 communion of the Lord's Supper.] 
 
 In the latter part of the summer of 1835, the slave- 
 holders generally became alarmed at the progress of the 
 abolitionists. Meetings were held throughout the South 
 to excite all classes of peoj)le to the requisite degree of 
 exasperation against them. At one of these meetings, 
 held at Clinton, Mississippi, it was 
 
13 
 
 Resolved, 
 
 "That slavery through the South and West is not felt as an 
 evil, moral or political, but it is recognized in reference to the 
 actual, and not to any Utopian condition of our slaves, as a bless- 
 ing, both to master and slave." 
 
 Resolved, — 
 
 " That it is our decided opinion, that any individual who dares 
 to circulate, with a view to effectuate the designs of the abolition- 
 ists, any of the incendiary tracts or newspapers now in a course 
 of transmission to this country, is justly worthy, in the sight of 
 God and man, of immediate death ; and we doubt not that such 
 would be the punishment of any such offender in any part of the 
 state of Mississippi where he may be found." 
 
 Resolved, — 
 
 " That we recommend to the citizens of Mississippi, to encour- 
 age the cause of the American Colonization Society, so long as in 
 good faith it concentrates its energies alone on the removal of the 
 free people of color out of the United States." 
 
 Resolved, — 
 
 " That the clergy of the state of Mississippi be hereby recom- 
 mended at once to take a stand upon this subject, and that their 
 further silence in relation thereto, at this crisis, will, in our opin- 
 ion, be subject to serious censure." 
 
 At Charleston, South Carolina, the post-office was 
 forced, the Anti-Slavery publications, which were there 
 for distribution or further transmission to masters, taken 
 out and made a bonfire of in the street^ by a mob of 
 several thousand people. 
 
 A public meeting was appointed to be held a few days 
 afterward to complete, in the same spirit in which they 
 were commenced, preparations for excluding Anti-Slavery 
 publications from circulation, and for ferreting out per- 
 sons suspected of favoring the doctrines of the abolition- 
 ists, that they might be subjected to lynch law. At this 
 assembly the Charleston Courier informs us, — 
 
 "The Clergy of all denominations attended in a body, lending 
 their sanction to the proceedings, and adding by their presence 
 to the impressive character of the scene." 
 
 It was there resolved, — 
 
 "That the thanks of this meeting are due to the Reverend gentle- 
 men of the clergy in this city, who have so promptly and so effectu- 
 ally responded to public sentiment, by suspending their schools in 
 which thefree colored population were taught; and that this meeting 
 
14 
 
 deem it a patriotic action, worthy of all praise, and proper to be 
 imitated by other teachers of similar schools throughout the state." 
 
 The alarm of the Virginia slaveholders was not less — 
 nor were the clergy in the city of Richmond, the capital, 
 less prompt than the clergy in Charleston to respond to 
 "public sentiment." Accordingly, on the 29th of July, 
 thejr assembled together, and 
 
 Eesolved, unanimously, — 
 
 "That we earnestly deprecate the unwarrantable and highly 
 improper interference of the people of any other state with the 
 domestic relations of master and slave. 
 
 "That the example of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles, 
 in not interfering with the question of slavery, but uniformly 
 recognizing the relations of master and servant, and giving full 
 and affectionate instruction to both, is worthy of the imitation of 
 all ministers of the gospel. 
 
 " That we will not patronize nor receive any pamphlet or news- 
 paper of the Anti-Slavery Societies, and that we will discounte- 
 nance the circulation of all such papers in the community. 
 
 "That the suspicions which have prevailed to a considerable 
 extent against ministers of the gospel and professors of religion in 
 the state of Virginia, as identified with abolitionists, are wholly 
 unmerited — believing as we do, from extensive acquaintance with 
 our churches and brethren, that they are unanimous in opposing 
 the pernicious schemes of abolitionists." 
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 700,000 Members. 
 In 1780, four years before the Episcopal Methodist 
 Church was regularly organized in the United States, the 
 conference bore the following testimony against slavery : 
 "The conference acknowledges that slavery is contrary to the 
 laws of God, man, and nature, and hurtful to society ; contrary to 
 the dictates of conscience and true religion, and doing what we 
 would not others should do unto us." 
 
 In 1784, when the church was fully organized, rules 
 were adopted, prescribing the times at which members, 
 who were already slaveholders, should emancipate their 
 slaves. These rules were succeeded by the following: 
 
 "Every person concerned, who will not comply with these 
 rules, shall have liberty quietly to withdraw from our society 
 within the twelve months following the notice being given him as 
 aforesaid ; otherwise the assistants shall exclude him the society. 
 
 "No person holding slaves shall in future be admitted into 
 society, or to the Lord's Supper, till be previously comply with 
 these rules concerning slavery. 
 
15 
 
 "Those who buy, sell, or give [slaves] away, unless on purpose 
 to free them, shall be expelled immediately." 
 
 In 1785 the following language was held : — 
 
 "We do hold in the deepest abhorrence the practice of slavery, 
 
 and shall not cease to seek its destruction by all wise and prudent 
 
 means." 
 
 In 1801:— 
 
 "We declare that we are more than ever convinced of the great 
 evil of African slavery, which still exists in these United States." 
 
 "Every member of the society who sells a slave shall, imme- 
 diately after full proof, be excluded from the society, &c." 
 
 " The Annual Conferences are directed to draw up addresses for 
 the gradual emancipation oftheslaves to the legislature." "Proper 
 committees shall be appointed by the Annual Conferences, out of 
 the most respectable of our friends, for the conducting of the 
 business ; and tne presiding elders, deacons, and travelling 
 preachers, shall procure as many proper signatures as possible to 
 the addresses, and give all the assistance in their power, in every 
 respect to aid the committees, and to further the blessed under- 
 taking. Let this be continued from year to year until the desired 
 end be accomplished." 
 
 In 1836 the General Conference met in May, in Cin- 
 cinnati, a town of 46,000 inhabitants, and the metropolis 
 of the free state of Ohio. An anti-slavery society had 
 been formed there a year or two before. A meeting of 
 the society was appointed for the evening of the 10th of 
 May, to which the abolitionists attending the Conference 
 as delegates were invited.* Of those who attended, two 
 of them made remarks suitable to the occasion. On the 
 12th of May, Rev. S..G-. Roszell presented in the confer- 
 ence the following preamble and resolutions : — 
 
 " Whereas great excitement has pervaded this country on the 
 subject of modern abolitionism, which is reported to have been 
 increased in this city recently by the unjustifiable conduct of 
 two members of the General Conference in lecturing upon, and 
 in favor of that agitating topic;— and whereas, such a course on 
 the part of any of its members is calculated to bring upon this 
 body the suspicion and distrust of the community, and misrepre- 
 sent its sentiments in regard to the point at issue ; — and whereas, 
 in this aspect of the case, a due regard for its own character, 
 as well as a just concern for the interests of the church confided 
 to its care, demand a full, decided, and unequivocal expression of 
 the views of the General Conference in the premises." Therefore, 
 
 *The Rev. Mr. Lovejov, who was afterwards slain by the mob in defend- 
 ing his press at Alton, Illinois, was present at the meeting. He was on his 
 way from St. Louis, where he then resided, to Pittsburg, to attend the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of the Fresbyterian Church. 
 
16 
 
 1. Resolved, — 
 
 " B} r the delegates of the Annual Conference in General Con- 
 ference assembled, that they disapprove in the most unqualified 
 'sense, the conduct of the two members of the General Conference 
 who are reported to have lectured in this city recently, upon, and 
 in favor of, modern abolitionism." 
 
 2. Resolved, — 
 
 " By the delegates of the Annual Conferences in General Con- 
 ference assembled, — that they are decidedly opposed to modern 
 abolitionism, and wholly disclaim any right, wish, or intention 
 to interfere in the civil and political relation between master and 
 slave as it exists in the slave-holding states of this Union." 
 
 The preamble and resolutions were adopted, — the first 
 resolution by 122 to 11, the last by 120 to 14. 
 
 An address was received from the Methodist Wesleyan 
 .Conference in England in which the anti-Christian char- 
 acter of slavery, and the duty of the Methodist church 
 was plainly, yet tenderly and affectionately, presented for 
 its consideration. The Conference refused to publish it. 
 
 In the Pastoral Address to the churches are these 
 passages : 
 
 "It cannot be unknown to you that the question of slavery in 
 the United States, by the constitutional compact which binds us 
 together as a nation, is left to be regulated by the several state 
 legislatures themselves, and thereby is put beyond the control of 
 the general government as well as that of all ecclesiastical bodies, 
 it being manifest that in the slave-holding states themselves the 
 entire responsibility of its existence or non-existence rests with 
 
 those state legislatures These facts, which are 
 
 only mentioned here as a reason for the friendly admonition 
 which we wish to give you, constrain us as your pastors who are 
 called to watch over your souls as they must give account, to 
 exhort you to abstain from all abolition movements and associa- 
 tions, and to refrain from patronizing any of their publications," 
 &c. . . "From every view of the subject which we have been 
 able to take, and from the most calm and dispassionate survey of 
 the whole ground, we have come to the conclusion that the only 
 safe, scriptural, and prudent way for us, both as ministers and peo- 
 ple, to take, is, wholly to refrain from this agitating subject," &c. 
 
 The temper exhibited by the general conference was 
 warmly sympathized in by many of the local conferences, 
 not only in the slave states but in the free. 
 
 The Ohio Annual Conference had a short time before 
 
 Resolved, — 
 
 " 1. That we deeply regret the proceedings of the abolitionists 
 
17 
 
 and Anti-Slavery Societies in the free states, and the consequent 
 excitement produced thereby in the slave states ; that we, as a 
 Conference, disclaim all connection and cooperation with or be- 
 lief in the same ; and that we hereby recommend to our junior 
 preachers, local brethren, and private members within our 
 bounds to abstain from any connection with them, or participa- 
 tion of their acts in the premises whatever." 
 
 Resolved, — 
 
 "2. That those brethren and citizens of the North who resist 
 the abolition movements with firmness and moderation, are the 
 true friends to the church, to the slaves of the South, and to the 
 constitution of our common country," &c. 
 
 The New York Annual Conference met in June, 1836, 
 and 
 
 Resolved, — - 
 
 " 1. That this conference fully concur in the advice of the late 
 General Conference, as expressed in their Pastoral Address." 
 
 Resolved, — 
 
 " 2. That we disapprove of the members of this conference pat- 
 ronizing' or in any way giving countenance to a paper called 
 'Zion's Watchman,'* because in our opinion it tends to disturb 
 the peace and harmony of the body by sowing dissensions in the 
 church." 
 
 Resolved, — 
 
 "3. That although we could not condemn any man or with- 
 hold our suffrages from him on account of his opinions merely, in 
 reference to the subject of abolitionism, yet we are decidedly of 
 the opinion that none ought to be elected to the office of a deacon 
 or elder in our church, unless he give a pledge to the conference 
 that he will refrain from agitating the church with discus- 
 sions on this subject, and the more especially as the one promises 
 'reverently to obey them to whom the charge and government 
 over him is committed, following with a glad mind and will, 
 their godly admonitions:' and the other with equal solemnity, 
 promises to ' maintain and set forward as much as lieth in him, 
 quietness, peace, and love among all Christian people, and es- 
 pecially among them that are, or shall be committed to his 
 charge.' " 
 
 In 1838 the same Conference, Resolved, — 
 
 "As the sense of this conference, that any of its members or 
 probationers, who shall patronize Zion's Watchman, either by 
 writing in commendation of its character, by circulating it, re- 
 commending it to our people, or procuring subscribers, or by col- 
 lecting or remitting monies, shall be deemed guilty of indiscre- 
 tion, and dealt with accordingly." 
 
 *Zion*s Watchman is a newspaper devoted to the anti-slavery cause and 
 the religious interests of the Methodist Episcopal church. It is edited by 
 the Rev. La Roy Sunderland. 
 
18 
 
 The preachers — judging by the vote on the anti-aboli- 
 tion resolutions — were expected of course to conform to 
 the advice in the pastoral address. The New York Con- 
 ference, the most influential, set the example of exacting 
 a pledge from the candidates for orders that they would 
 not agitate the subject of slavery in their congregations. 
 The official newspapers of the connection would, of course, 
 be silent. Therefore, as a measure for wholly excluding 
 the slavery question from the church, it was of the last 
 importance that Zion's Watchman, an wwofficial' paper, 
 and earnest in the anti-slavery cause, should be prevented 
 from circulating among the members. 
 
 Having seen in what spirit the conferences of the free 
 states were willing to act, we will now see what was the 
 temper of the conferences in the slave states. They were 
 not under the same necessity as the free state conferen- 
 ces, of guarding against agitation by candidates for orders 
 — for in the slave slates they are comparatively few, and 
 being brought up under the influences of slavery, are con- 
 sidered sound on that subject. The point of most inter- 
 est to the slaveholding professors of religion was to steel 
 their own consciences. 
 
 The Baltimore Conference resolved : 
 
 "That in all cases of administration under the general rule in 
 reference to buying and [or] selling men, women, and children, 
 &c., it be, and hereby is recommended to all committees, as the 
 sense and opinion of this conference, that the said rule be taken, 
 construed, and understood, so as not to make the guilt or inno- 
 cence of the accused to depend upon the simple fact of purchase 
 or sale of any such slave or slaves, but upon the attendant 
 circumstances of cruelty, injustice, or inhumanity on the one 
 hand, or those of kind purposes or good intentions, on the other, 
 under which the transactions shall have been perpetrated; and 
 farther, it is recommended that in all such cases the charge be 
 brought for immorality, and the circumstances adduced as speci- 
 fications under that charge." 
 
 THE GEORGIA ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 
 
 Resolved unanimously that : 
 
 " "Whereas, there is a clause in the discipline of our church, 
 which states that we are as much as ever convinced of the great 
 evil of slavery ; and whereas the said clause has been perverted 
 by some, and used in such a manner as to produce the impression 
 that the Methodist Episcopal church believed slavery to be a 
 moral evil." 
 
19 
 
 Therefore, Resolved, — 
 
 "That it is the sense of the Georgia Annual Conference that 
 slavery, as it exists in the United States, is not a moral evil." 
 
 Resolved, — 
 
 " That we view slavery as a civil and domestic institution, and 
 one with which, as ministers of Christ, we have nothing to do, 
 further than to ameliorate the condition of the slave by endeav- 
 oring to impart to him and his master the benign influences ©f 
 the religion of Christ, and aiding both on their way to Heaven." 
 
 On the motion it was resolved unanimously, — 
 "That the Georgia Annual Conference regard with feelings of 
 profound respect and approbation, the dignified course pursued 
 by our several superintendents or bishops in suppressing the at- 
 tempts that have been made by various individuals to get up and 
 protract an excitement in the churches and country on the subject 
 of abolitionism. 
 
 Resolved, further, — 
 
 "That they shall have our cordial and zealous support in sus- 
 taining them in the ground they have taken." 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE. 
 
 The Rev. W. Martin introduced resolutions similar to 
 those of the Georgia conference. 
 
 The Rev. W. Capers, D. D., after expressing his con- 
 viction that " the sentiment of the resolutions was univer- 
 sally held, not only by the ministers of that conference, 
 but of the whole South ; " and after stating that the only 
 true doctrine was, "it belongs to Caesar, and not to the 
 church," offered the following as a substitute : 
 
 "Whereas, we hold that the subject of slavery in these United 
 States is not one proper for the action of the church, but is exclu- 
 sively appropriate to the civil authorities," 
 
 Therefore, Resolved, — 
 
 "That this conference will not intermeddle with it, farther 
 than to express our regret that it has ever been introduced in any 
 form into any one of the judicatures of the church. 
 
 " Brother Martin accepted the substitute. 
 
 " Brother Betts asked whether the substitute was intended as 
 implying that slavery as it exists among us was not a moral evil ? 
 He understood it as equivalent to such a declaration. 
 
 "Brother Capers explained that his intention was to convey 
 that sentiment fully and unequivocally ; and that he had chosen 
 the form of the substitute for the purpose, not only of reproving 
 some wrong doings at the North, but with reference also to the 
 general conference. If slavery were a moral evil (that is sinful), 
 the church would be bound to take cognizance of it ; but our affir- 
 
20 
 
 mation is that it is not a matter for her jurisdiction, but is exclu- 
 sively appropriate to the civil government, and of course not sin- 
 ful. 
 
 " The substitute was then unanimously adopted." 
 
 SENTIMENTS OF NON-SLAVEHOLDING 
 METHODIST MINISTERS. 
 Rev. N. Bangs, D. D v of New York : 
 " It appears evident that however much the apostles might 
 have deprecated slavery as it then existed throughout the Ho- 
 rn :m empire, he did not feel it his duty, as an ambassador of 
 Christ, to disturb those relations which subsisted between master 
 and servants, by denouncing slavery as such a mortal sin that 
 they could not be servants of Christ in such a relation." 
 
 Rev. E. D. Simros, Professor in Randolph Macon Col- 
 lege, a Methodist institution : 
 
 " These extracts from holy writ unequivocally assert the 
 right of property in slaves, together with the usual incidents 
 of that right; such as the power of acquisition and disposition in 
 various ways, according to municipal regulations. The right to 
 buy and sell, and to transmit to children by way of inheritance, 
 is clearly stated. The only restriction on the subject is in refer- 
 ence to the market in which slaves or bondsmen were to be pur- 
 chased. 
 
 " Upon the whole, then, whether we consult the Jewish polity, 
 instituted by God himself, or the uniform opinion and practice of 
 mankind in all ages of the world, or the injunctions of the New 
 Testament and the Moral Law, we are brought to the conclusion 
 that slavery is not immoral. 
 
 "Having established the point that the first African slaves 
 were legally brought into bondage, the right to detain their chil- 
 dren in bondage follows as an indispensable consequence. 
 
 "Thus we see that the slavery which exists in America, was 
 founded in right.'''' 
 
 The. Rev. Wilbur Fisk, D. D., late President of the 
 [Methodist] Wesleyan University in Connecticut : 
 
 "The relation of master and slave may, and does, in many cases, 
 exist under such circumstances, as free the master from the just 
 charge and guilt of immorality. 
 
 " 1 Cor. vii. 20-23. 
 
 "This text seems mainly to enjoin and sanction the fitting con- 
 tinuance of their present social relations: the freeman was to re- 
 main free, and "the slave, unless emancipation should offer, was to 
 remain a slave. 
 
 " The general rule of Christianity not only permits, but in sup- 
 posable circumstances, enjoins a continuance of the master's 
 authority. 
 
 l [ The New Testament enjoins obedience upon the slave as an 
 obligation due to a present rightful authority." 
 
21 
 
 Rev. Elijah Hedding, D. D., one of the six Methodist 
 bishops : 
 
 "The right to hold a slave is founded on this rule, ' Therefore, 
 all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye 
 even so to them : for this is the law and the prophets.' " — Ch. Ad. 
 and Journal, Oct. 20, 1807. 
 
 SENTIMENTS OF SLAVEHOLDER METHO- 
 DIST MINISTERS. 
 
 The Rev. William Winans, of Mississippi, in the Gene- 
 ral Conference, in 1836 : 
 
 " He was not born in a slave state — he was a Pennsylvanian by 
 birth. He had been brought up to believe a slaveholder as great 
 a villain as a horse-thief; but he had gone to the South, and long 
 residence there had changed his views ; he had become a slave- 
 holder on principle." .... "Though a slaveholder him- 
 self, no abolitionist felt more sympathy for the slave than he did; 
 none had rejoiced more in the hope of a coming period, when the 
 print of a slave's foot would not be seen on the soil." . . . "It 
 was important to the interests of slaves, and in view of the ques- 
 tion of slavery, that there be Christians who were slaveholders. 
 Christian ministers should be slaveholders, and diffused through- 
 out the South. Yes, sir, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, 
 should be slaveholders. Yes, he repeated it boldly, there should 
 be members, and deacons, and elders, and BISHOPS, too, who 
 were slaveholders." 
 
 The Rev. J. Early, of Virginia, on the same occasion : 
 "Sir: We have no ewer^. But if a majority of this conference 
 have no energy, not enough of it to protect their own honor from 
 insult and degradation, be it known, that there are in the confer- 
 ence those who have, and who ought to be by themselves. 
 It is full time for you, sir, to speak out, to testify that you have 
 some regard for yourselves— to say that you have some regard for 
 your honor. Submit to this, sir! If we submit to this, we are 
 prepared to submit to anything." 
 
 The Rev. J. H. Thornwell, at a public meeting held in 
 South Carolina, supported the following resolutions : 
 
 " That slavery, as it exists in the South, is no evil, and is con- 
 sistent with the principles of revealed religion ; and that all oppo- 
 sition to it arises from a misguided and fiendish fanaticism, which 
 we are bound to resist in the very threshold. 
 
 " That all .interference with this subject by fanatics is a viola- 
 tion of our civil and social rights, is unchristian and inhuman, 
 lending necessarily to anarchy and bloodshed ; and that the insti- 
 gators are murderers and assassins. 
 
 "That any interference with this subject, on the part of con- 
 gress, must lead to a dissolution of the Union." 
 
22 
 
 The Kev. George W. Langhorne, of North Carolina, 
 thus writes to the editor of Zion's Watchman, under date, 
 June 25th, 1836. 
 
 "I, sir, would as soon be found in the ranks of a banditti, as 
 numbered with Arthur Tappan and his wanton coadjutors. 
 Nothing is more appalling to my feelings as a man, contrary to 
 my principles as a Christian, and repugnant to my soul as a 
 minister, than the insidious proceedings of such men. 
 
 "If you have not resigned your credentials as a minister of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church, I really think that, as an honest man, 
 you should now do it. In your ordination vows you solemnly 
 promised to be obedient to those who have rule over you ; and 
 since they [the General ConferenceJ have spoken, and that dis- 
 tinctly, too, on this subject, and disapprobate your conduct, I con- 
 ceive you are bound to submit to their authority or leave the 
 church." 
 
 The Eev. J. C. Postell, in July, 1836, delivered an 
 address at a public meeting at Orangeburgh Court-house, 
 S. C, in which he maintains ; 1. That slavery is a judi- 
 cial visitation. 2. That it is not a moral evil. 3. That 
 it is supported by the Bible. He thus argues his second 
 point : 
 
 " It is not a moral evil. The fact that slavery is of Divine 
 appointment would be proof enough, with the Christian, that it 
 could not be a moral evil. But when we view the hordes of savage 
 marauders and human cannibals enslaved to lust and passion, and 
 abandoned to idolatry and ignorance, to revolutionize them from 
 such a state, and enslave them where they may have the gospel, 
 and the privileges of Christians, so far from being a moral evil, 
 it is a merciful visitation. If slavery was either the invention of 
 man or a moral evil, it is logical to conclude, the power to create 
 has the power to destroy. Why, then, has it existed? And why 
 does it now exist amidst all the power of legislation in state and 
 church, and the clamor of abolitionists ? It is the Lord's doings, 
 and marvellous in our eyes, and had it not been done for the 
 best, God alone, who is able, long since would have overruled it. 
 It is by divine appointment." 
 
 On that occasion the same Rev. gentleman read a letter 
 which he had addressed to the editor of Zion's Watch- 
 man, of which the following are extracts : 
 
 " To La Roy Sunderland, &c. 
 
 "Did you calculate to misrepresent the Methodist Discipline, and 
 say it supported abolitionism, when the General Conference, in 
 their late resolutions, denounced it as a libel on truth? ' Oh full 
 of all subtlety, thou child of the devil /' all liars, saith the sacred 
 volume, shall have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone. 
 
 " I can only give one reason why you have not been indicted for 
 a libel. The law says, 'The greater the truth, the greater the 
 
23 
 
 libel ;' and as your paper has no such ingredient, it is construed 
 but a small matter. But if you desire to educate the slaves, I will 
 tell you how to raise the money without editing Zion's Watch- 
 man ; you and old Arthur Tappan come out to the South this 
 winter, and they will raise one hundred thousand dollars for you. 
 New Orleans itself will be pledged for it. Desiring no further 
 acquaintance wi.h you, and never expecting to see you but once 
 in time or eternity, that is at judgment, I subscribe myself, the 
 friend of the Bible, and the opposer of abolitionists. 
 
 "J. C. Postell, 
 "Orangeburgh, July 21st, 1836." 
 
 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE FOR 1840 ; 
 
 HELD ITS SESSION IN MAY, IN BALTIMORE. 
 
 The Rev. Silas Comfort appealed from a decision of the 
 Missouri conference, of which he was a member. That 
 conference had convicted him of u mal-administration,'' in 
 admitting the testimony of a colored person in the trial of 
 a white member of the church. The General Conference 
 reversed the decision of the Missouri conference. The 
 Southern delegates insisted on something being done to 
 counteract the injurious influence which the reversal would 
 have on the Methodist church in the slave states. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. A. J. Few, of Georgia, proposed the 
 following: 
 
 Resolved, — 
 
 " That it is inexpedient and unjustifiable for any preacher to 
 permit colored persons to give testimony against white persons, in 
 any state where they are denied that privilege by law." 
 
 This was carried, but it was at variance with the deci- 
 sion in Comfort's case. The Conference saw the absurdity 
 of their position, and that something must be done to 
 shift it. To this end, it was thought best to attempt 
 getting rid of the whole subject. A motion was made to 
 reconsider the decision in Comfort's case, with a view, if 
 it should be carried, to another, not to entertain his appeal. 
 Should tliis latter prevail, a motion was then to follow, to 
 reconsider Dr. Few's resolution. If this should be carried, 
 by another motion it could be laid on the table and kept 
 there. In this way the whole matter might be excluded. 
 
 The motion to reconsider the reversal in Comfort's case 
 was carried. So was the motion, not to entertain his 
 
24 
 
 appeal. But the motion to reconsider Dr. Few's resolu- 
 tion failed. Pending the debate on it, one of the Southern 
 delegates, 
 
 Kev. William A. Smith, of Virginia, [the same who, 
 in the General Conference of 1836, publicly wished the 
 Kev. Orange Scott, a leading abolitionist, also of the 
 General Conference, "in heaven;"] becoming alarmed, 
 lest the resolution should be reconsidered and consigned 
 to the table, offered the following compromise as a sub- 
 stitute : 
 
 Resolved, — 
 
 "That the resolution offered by A. J. Few, and adopted on 
 Monday, the 18th instant, relating to the testimony of persons of 
 color, be reconsidered and amended so as to read as follows, viz.: 
 ' That it is inexpedient and unjustifiable for any preacher among 
 us to admit of persons of color to give testimony on the trial of 
 white persons in any slaveholding state where they are denied that 
 privilege in trials at law. Provided, that when an annual confer- 
 ence in any such state or territory shall judge it expedient to 
 admit of the introduction of such testimony within its bounds, it 
 shall be allowed so to do.' " 
 
 However, the Southern delegates being unanimous 
 (with the single exception of the Rev. mover), and hav- 
 ing the aid of some of the most devoted of the pro-slavery 
 Northern delegates, the substitute was lost by an even 
 vote. 
 
 The efforts made to " harmonize" the slaveholding and 
 the non-slaveholding delegates, had thus far failed. It 
 was not, however, abandoned. With that view, Bishop 
 Soule, acting as the representative of the other bishops, 
 introduced three resolutions. We have not been able to 
 procure a copy of them. In Zion's Watchman, we find 
 them substantially stated thus : 
 
 1. " The action of the General Conference in the Comfort case 
 was not intended to express or imply that it was either expedient 
 or justifiable to admit the testimony of colored persons in states 
 where such testimony is rejected by the civil authorities. 
 _ 2. " It was not intended, by the adoption of Dr. Few's resolu- 
 tion, to prohibit the admission of it when the civil authorities or 
 usage authorizes its admission. 
 
 3. "Expresses the undiminished regard of the General Confer- 
 ence for the colored population." 
 
 Immediately on the passage of Dr. Few's resolution, 
 the " official members (forty-six in number) of the Sharp 
 
25 
 
 Street and Asbury Colored Methodist Episcopal Church 
 in Baltimore," protested and petitioned against it. The 
 following passages are in their address : 
 
 "The adoption of such a resolution by our highest ecclesiasti- 
 cal judicatory, a judicatory composed of the most experienced 
 and wisest brethren in the church, the choice selection of twenty- 
 eight annual conferences, has inflicted, we fear, an irreparable in- 
 jury upon eighty thousand souls for whom Christ died — souls, who 
 by this act of your body, have been stript of the dignity of Chris- 
 tians, degraded in the scale of humanity, and treated as criminals 
 for no other reason than the color of their skin ! Your resolution 
 has, in our humble opinion, virtually declared that a mere physi- 
 cal peculiarity, the handy work of our all-wise and benevolent 
 Creator, is prima, facie evidence of incompetency to tell the truth, 
 oris an unerring indication of un worthiness to bear testimony 
 against a fellow-being whose skin is denominated white. . . . 
 " Brethren, out of the abundance of the heart we have spoken. 
 Our grievance is before you ! If you have any regard for the sal- 
 vation of the eighty thousand immortal souls committed to your 
 care; if you would not thrust beyond the pale of the church, 
 twenty-five hundred souls in this city, who have felt determined 
 never to leave the church that has nourished and brought them 
 up ; if you regard us as children of one common Father, and can, 
 upon reflection, sympathize with us as members of the body of 
 Christ — if you weuld not incur the fearful, the tremendous re- 
 sponsibility of offending not only one, but many thousands of his 
 'little ones;' we conjure you to wipe from your journal, the 
 odious resolution which is ruining our people." 
 
 "A Colored Baltimorean," writing to the editor of 
 Zion's Watchman, says : 
 
 "The address was presented to one of the secretaries, a delegate 
 of the Baltimore conference, and subsequently given by him to 
 the bishops. How many of the members of the conference saw 
 it, I know not. One thing is certain, it was not read to the con- 
 ference." 
 
 SENTIMENTS EXPRESSED DURING THE 
 DEBATES. 
 
 Rev. W. Capers, D. D., of Charleston, S. Carolina, 
 "Valued the quotations which had been made from the early 
 disciplines and minutes; there was no kind of property that he 
 valued so high as the works which contained them ; they were 
 the monuments of that primitive Methodism which he loved. 
 He then read from the minutes of 1780, '84, and '85, and at- 
 tempted to show from the smallness of the church, and the little 
 connexion that it had with slavery in 1780, that it adopted the 
 language which was precisely consistent with its circumstances, 
 and just such language as he would adopt under similar circum- 
 
26 
 
 stances; but in 1784 and '85, when the church had extended fur- 
 ther, and became more entangled with slavery, there was a cor- 
 responding faltering in the language of the church against it. 
 But in 18U0 the church fell into a great error on this subject— an 
 error which he had no doubt those who were so unfortunate as to 
 fall into, very deeply deplored. The conference authorized ad- 
 dresses to the legislatures, and memorials to be circulated by all 
 our ministers, and instructed them to continue those measures 
 from year to year, till slavery was abolished. He had no doubt 
 that the men engaged in this work were sincere and pious, but 
 they soon perceived that it was a great error, and abandoned it. 
 . . He thanked the brother from Canada (Rev. Egerton Ryer- 
 son), for the strong sympathy he had expressed for Southern in- 
 stitutions. . . ^Notwithstanding the representations that a part 
 of the discipline was a dead letter in the South, yet he assured 
 them that they received the whole of it — they were under the 
 whole of it — acknowledged it all, — but, said he, you must take 
 heed what discipline you make for us now; if the chapter on 
 slavery had not long been in the discipline, you could not put it 
 there now. I repeat, therefore, you must beware what laws you 
 make for us ! You may easily adopt such measures as will effect- 
 ually hedge up our way, and make us slaves. We cannot be 
 made slaves; beware,* therefore, I say, what discipline you give 
 us! Be cautious what burthens you impose upon us! We 
 know what our work is, — it is to preach and pray for the slaves." 
 
 Rev. Mr. Crowder of Virginia: 
 
 "In its civil aspect, neither the general government, or any 
 other government, ecclesiastical or civil, either directly or indi- 
 rectly, has a right to touch slavery." In its ecclesiastical aspect, 
 "we are bound by the twenty-third article of our religion to sub- 
 mit to the civil regulations of the state under which we live." In 
 its moral aspect, "Slavery was not only countenanced, permitted, 
 and regulated by the Bible, but it was positively instituted by 
 God himself — he had in so many words enjoined it." 
 
 The Rev. Joshua Soule, D. D., of Ohio (one of the 
 bishops), in advocating the reconsideration of the de- 
 cision in Comfort's case, said : 
 
 " It will be recollected by brethren that the Missouri confer- 
 ence fixed no censure — not a particle of censure upon the charac- 
 ter of Silas Comfort; the law, therefore, would not justify an 
 appeal to this body. If that unfortunate word 'mal-administra- 
 tion,' had not been used in connection with the case, it would 
 never have found its way here." "I do not express merely my 
 own opinion in this case; it is the united opinion of your super- 
 intendents (bishops), and it is by their request that I address you 
 on this occasion." 
 
 Rev. Mr. Peck, of New York, who moved the recon- 
 sideration of Dr. Few's resolution : 
 
 " That resolution, said he, was introduced under peculiar cir- 
 
27 
 
 cumstances, during considerable excitement, and he went for it 
 as a peace-offering to the South, without sufficiently reflecting 
 upon the precise import of its phraseology ; but after a little de- 
 liberation, he was sorry, and he had been sorry but once, and 
 that was all the time; he was convinced that, if that resolution 
 remain upon the journal, it would be disastrous to the whole North- 
 ern church." 
 
 Rev. Dr. A. J. Few of Georgia, the mover of the origi- 
 nal resolution : 
 
 " Look at it ! "What do you declare to us in taking this 
 course ? Why, simply as much as to say, ' we cannot sustain 
 you in the condition which you cannot avoid ! ' We cannot sus- 
 tain you in the necessary conditions of slaveholding ; one of its nec- 
 essar} r conditions being the rejection of negro testimony. If it is 
 not sinful to hold slaves under all circumstances, it is not sinful 
 to hold them in the only condition, and under the only circum- 
 stances, which they can be held. The rejection of negro testi- 
 mony is one of the necessary circumstances under which slave- 
 holding can exist; indeed, it is utterly impossible for it to exist 
 without it; therefore it is not sinful to hold slaves in the condi- 
 tion and under the circumstances which they are held at the 
 South, inasmuch as they can be held under no other circum- 
 stances. . . If you believe that slaveholding is necessarily 
 sinful, come out with the abolitionists and honestly say so. If 
 you believe that slaveholding is necessarily sinful, you believe 
 we are necessarily sinners : and, if so, come out and honestly de- 
 clare it, and let us leave you. . . We want to know distinctly, 
 precisely, and honestly the position which you take. We cannot 
 be tampered with by you any longer. We have had enough of 
 it. We are tired of your sickly sympathies. . . If you are 
 not opposed to the principles which it involves, unite with us, 
 like honest men, and go home and boldly meet the consequences. 
 We say again, you are responsible for this state of things, for it is 
 you who have driven us to the alarming point where we rind our- 
 selves. . . You have made that resolution absolutely necessary 
 to the quiet of the South ! But you now revoke that resolution ! 
 And you pass the Rubicon ! Let me not be misunderstood. I 
 say you pass the Rubicon ! If you revoke, you revoke the prin- 
 ciple which that resolution involves, and you array the whole 
 South against you, and we must separate! . . If you accede to 
 the principles which it involves, arising from the necessity of the 
 case, stick by it, 'though the heavens perish ! ' But if you per- 
 sist on reconsideration, I ask in what light will your course be 
 regarded in the South ? What will be the conclusion there, in 
 reference to it ? Why, that you cannot sustain us as long as we 
 nold slaves ! It will declare in the face of the sun, 'we cannot 
 sustain you, gentlemen, while you retain your slaves ! ' Your 
 opposition to the resolution is based upon your opposition to 
 slavery ; you cannot, therefore, maintain your consistency, unless 
 you come out with the abolitionists, and condemn us at once and 
 forever; or else refuse to reconsider." 
 
28 
 
 The Eev. William Winans of Mississippi (the same 
 who was a delegate to the general conference in 1836): 
 
 " He was never more deeply impressed with the solemnity of 
 his situation — the act of this afternoon will determine the fate of 
 our beloved Zion ! . . "Will you meet us halfway ? Have you 
 the magnanimity to consent to a compromise? I pledge myself, 
 in behalf of every Southern man, that if you will affirm the de- 
 cision in the case of Silas Comfort, we will give up the resolu- 
 tion ; but if you refuse to affirm, and wrest from us that resolu- 
 tion, you stab us to the vitals ! . . Repeal that resolution, and 
 you pass the Rubicon ! Dear as union is, sir, there are interests 
 at stake in this question which are dearer than union ! Do not 
 regard us as threatening! . . . But what will become of our 
 beloved Methodism ? .The interests of Methodism throughout 
 the whole South are at stake ! We can, however, endure to see 
 the houses of God forsaken, and our wide-extended and beautiful 
 fields, which we have long been cultivating, laid waste and 
 turned into a moral wilderness. But what is to become of the 
 poor slave ? I entreat of you to pause ! You effectually shut out 
 the consolations and hopes of the gospel from hundreds and 
 thousands of poor slaves. . . I call heaven to record against 
 you this day, that if you repeal that resolution, you seal the dam- 
 nation of thousands of souls! I beseech you as upon my knees 
 not to do it." 
 
 The Eev. Mr. Collins, of , 
 
 "Admonished the conference, that the moment they rescinded 
 that resolution, they passed the Rubicon. The fate of the con- 
 nexion was sealed." 
 
 The Rev. William A. Smith, of Virginia, 
 "Agreed with the brother from Mississippi, that there were in- 
 terests involved in this question dearer than union itself, how- 
 ever dear that might be. Southerners are not prepared to commit 
 their interests, much less their consciences, to the holy keeping 
 of Northern men. Conscle?ice was involved in this matter, and 
 they could not be coerced." 
 
 Eev. Nathan Bangs, D. D., of New York : 
 
 " "We were on a snag, and he believed he could help us off. 
 He perceived a way to get out of the difficulty, and proceeded to 
 read three resolutions, one of which went to affirm the decision of 
 the Missouri conference in the Comfort case. He concluded with 
 a proposition to refer the whole case to a committee, to see if 
 something could not be done to harmonize the conference." 
 
 Eev. P. P. Sanford, of : 
 
 " Brethren spoke as though there were no interests involved in 
 this question but Southern and Western, but he could assure breth- 
 ren of their entire mistake. The North and East were as deeply 
 concerned in the issue of this question as the West and South. . 
 He was surprised at the course of Dr. Bangs, who, when the 
 
29 
 
 Missouri case was pending, retired without the bar, and thus 
 dodged the question ; and when Dr. Few's resolution was passed, 
 he sat still in his chair, and refused to do his duty, hut now he 
 comes forward with a series of resolutions entirely inconsistent 
 with all the facts in the case, with the very benevolent intention 
 to enlighten us on the subject! ! But what does he say? 
 Why, he declares that he believes that this conference ought to 
 affirm the decision of the Missouri conference in the case of Silas 
 Comfort! And what was that decision? "Why, that it is mal- 
 administration to admit the testimony of a colored man in the 
 trial of a white man! So that Comfort was condemned, as ap- 
 pears from the journals of that conference, solely for admitting 
 the testimony of a colored man I And Dr. Bangs is the man who 
 declares upon this floor, that that decision ought to be affirmed by 
 this conference ! ! He was perfectly astounded! Brethren talk 
 of compromise ! Is there any compromise in this ? " 
 
 Bishop Soule spoke in favor of the compromise resolu- 
 tions of the Rev. Mr. Smith : 
 
 " It was in view of the vast but jeoparded interests of our beloved 
 Zion : with a view to promote the union of our extended ecclesi- 
 astical confederation, that he ventured to speak on the present 
 occasion. He would lay one hand upon the North and East, and 
 the other upon the South, and constrain them to harmonize. He 
 had listened to the speeches of brethren, and he perceived that the 
 waters were troubled, but he was not alarmed; our ship is not 
 wrecked, and he had no doubt but that we should bring her safe 
 
 through He had listened to the intimations of the 
 
 possible necessity of adopting this measure, but brethren had 
 approached so near together that they only appeared to differ as 
 to the modus operandi of doing the thing which all seemed to 
 agree should be done. He could not, therefore, believe that breth- 
 ren were in earnest in intimating the probability of a division [of 
 the church] on so trifling an occasion. He had heard the appeals 
 from brethren of the South with unmingled sympathy, because 
 he was acquainted with the South ; he was familiar with the 
 difficulties which brethren from that region struggled with. . 
 We are in danger of forgetting that men born in the South are 
 much better qualified to judge of the bearing which particular 
 measures will have upon that region than those of the North can 
 be. He thanked the brother from Georgia (Dr. Few) for his kind 
 allusion to him, and regretted that he was understood to take 
 ground against the Dr., for he agreed with him entirely. . . The 
 brethren from the South came forward with all that frankness 
 which characterizes Southern men — I say, with all that frankness 
 which characterizes Southern men, for this is a distinguishing trait 
 in their character— and propose a conciliatory plan, which he 
 thought could not fail to Jiarmonize the great majority ; I say, the 
 greatT majority, for I despair of giving satisfaction to all. . . He 
 could not possibly see an objectionable feature in, or any favorable 
 effect that would be likely to result from, adopting them, either 
 
30 
 
 in the North or South. Does anyone think that they may be 
 disastrously used in the North, in favor of modern abolitionism ? 
 I neith ir see it nor fear it. Permit me to say to the members of 
 this General Conference who are connected with the abolition 
 movements, that the brethren at the South are better judges, cir- 
 oumstanced as they are, than you can possibty be, in regard to 
 
 every thing connected with slavery Surveying 
 
 the whole ground of this unfortunate affair, and where is the man 
 who dare come to the conclusion that sufficient reasons have been 
 develdped in this controversy for dividing the body of Christ." 
 
 THE BAPTIST CHURCH. 
 
 (500,000 Members.) 
 
 In 1835, the Charleston Baptist Association addressed 
 a memorial to the legislature of South Carolina, which 
 contains the following: 
 
 "The undersigned would further represent, that the said asso- 
 ciation does not consider that the holy scriptures have made the 
 fact of slavery a question of morals at all. The Divine Author 
 of our holy religion, in particular, found slavery a part of the 
 existing institutions of society ; with which, if not sinful, it was 
 not his design to intermeddle, but to leave them entirely to the 
 control of men. Adopting this, therefore, as one of the allowed 
 arrangements of society, he made it the province of his religion 
 only to prescribe the reciprocal duties of the relation. The ques- 
 tion, it is believed, is purely one of political economy. It amounts, 
 in effect, to this: Whether the operatives of a country shall be 
 bought and sold, and themselves become property , as in this state ; 
 or whether they shall be hirelings, and their labor only become 
 property, as in some other states. In other words, whether an 
 employer may buy the whole time of laborers at once, of those 
 who have a right to dispose of it, with a permanent relation of 
 protection and care over them, or, whether he shall be restricted 
 to buy it in certain portions only, subject to their control, and 
 with no such permanent relation of care and protection. The 
 right of masters to dispose of the time of their slaves has been dis- 
 tinctly recognized by the Creator of all things, who is surely at 
 liberty to vest the right of property over any object in whomso- 
 ever He pleases. That the lawful possessor should retain this 
 right at will, is no more against the laws of society and good 
 morals, than that he should retain the personal endowments with 
 which his Creator has blessed him, or the money and lands inher- 
 ited from his ancestors, or acquired by his industry. And neither 
 society nor individuals have any more authority to demand a 
 relinquishment without an equivalent, in the one case than in 
 the other. 
 
 " As it is a question purely of political economy, and one which 
 in this country is reserved to the cognizance of the state govern- 
 ments severally, it is further believed that the state of South Car- 
 olina alone has the right to regulate the existence and condition 
 
31 
 
 of slavery within her territorial limits; and we should resist to 
 the utmost every invasion of this right, come from what quarter 
 and under whatever pretence it may." 
 
 In 1835, the following query, referring to slaves, was 
 presented to the Savannah River Baptist Association of 
 Ministers : 
 
 " Whether, in case of involuntary separation of such a charac- 
 ter as to preclude all prospect of future intercourse, the parties 
 ought to be allowed to marry again ?" 
 
 Answer, — 
 
 "That such separation among persons situated as our slaves 
 are, is civilly a separation by death, and they believe that, in the 
 sight of God, it would be so'viewed. To forbid second marriages 
 in such cases would be to expose the parties, not only to stronger 
 hardships and strong temptations, but to church censure, for act- 
 ing in obedience to their masters, who cannot be expected to ac- 
 quiesce in a regulation at variance with justice to the slaves, and 
 to the spirit of that command which regulates marriage among 
 Christians. The slaves are not free agents, and a dissolution by 
 death is not more entirely without their consent, and beyond 
 their control, than by such separation." 
 
 Sept., 1835. The ministers and messengers of the Gos- 
 lien Association, assembled at Free Union, Virginia, state : 
 
 " The most of us have been born and brought up in the midst 
 of this population. Very many of us, too, have been ushered 
 into life under inauspicious circumstances, having no patrimo- 
 nies to boast, and inheriting little else from our parents but 
 an existence and a name. We have, however, through the bless- 
 ing of God, by a persevering course of industry and rigid econ- 
 omy, acquired a competent support for ourselves and families; 
 and as a reward for our laborious exertion we received such p?r>p- 
 erty [slaves] as was guaranteed to us not only by the laws of our 
 individual states, but by those of the United States. In consid- 
 eration whereof we unanimously adopt the following resolutions :" 
 
 1. Resolved, — 
 
 "That we consider our right and title to this property altogeth- 
 er legal and bona fide, and that it is a breach of the faith, pledged 
 in the federal constitution, for our Northern brethren to try, either 
 directly or indirectly, to lessen the value of this property or im- 
 pair our title thereto." 
 
 2. Resolved, — 
 
 " That we view the torch of the incendiary and the dagger of 
 the midnight assassin loosely concealed under the specious garb 
 of humanity and religion falsely so called." 
 
 3. Resolved, — 
 
 "That we consider there is something radically wrong in the 
 logic of those would-be philanthropists at the North, who lay it 
 
32 
 
 down as one of their main propositions that they must do -what 
 is right, regardless of consequences, inasmuch as they will not 
 venture to come this side of the Potomac to teach and lecture 
 publicly, where (they say) this crying evil exists." 
 
 SENTIMENTS OF INDIVIDUAL BAPTISTS. 
 
 The late Rev. Lucius Bolles, D. D., of Massachusetts, 
 Cor. Sec. Am. Bap. Board for Foreign Missions : 
 
 (1834) "There is a pleasing degree of union among the multi- 
 plying thousand- of Baptists throughout the land. • • . Our 
 Southern brethren are generally, both ministers and people, 
 slaveholders." 
 
 Rev. R. Eurman, D. D., of South Carolina : 
 " The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy 
 Scriptures, both by precept and example." — Exposition of the views 
 of the Baptists, addressed to the Governor of S. Carolina, 1833." 
 
 Dr. Furman died not long afterward. His legal repre- 
 sentatives thus advertise his property for sale : 
 " Notice. 
 
 "On the first Monday of February next, will be put up at pub- 
 lic auction, before the court house, the following property, belong- 
 ing to the estate of the late Rev. Dr. Furman, viz.: 
 
 "A plantation or tract of land on and in the Wataree Swamp. 
 A tract of the first quality of fine land, on the waters of Black 
 River. A lot of land in the town of Camden. A Library of a 
 miscellaneous character, chiefly Theological. » 
 
 ' 27 NEGROES, 
 Some of them very prime. Two mules, one horse, and an old 
 wagon." 
 
 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 (350,000 Members.) 
 
 In 1793, the General Assembly, not very long after it 
 was organized, adopted the "judgment" of the New- 
 York and Philadelphia Synods, in favor of "universal 
 liberty." In 1794 it adopted the following as a note to 
 the eighth commandment, as expressing the doctrine of 
 the church on slaveholdinjj : 
 
 y 1 Tim. i. 10. The law is made for max-stealers. This 
 crime among the Jews exposed the perpetrators of it to capital 
 punishment; Exodus xxi. 15: and the apostle here classes them 
 with sinners of the first rank. The word he uses, in its original 
 import, comprehends all who are concerned in bringing any of 
 the human race into slavery, or in retaining them in it. Hominum 
 fures, qui servos vel liberos abducunt, retinent, vendunt, vel emunt. 
 Stealers of men are all those who bring off slaves or freemen, and 
 keep, sell, or euy them. To steal a freeman, says Grotius, is 
 the highest kind of theft. In other instances, we only steal hu- 
 
33 
 
 man property, but when we steal, or retain men in slavery, we 
 seize those who, in common with ourselves, are constituted by the 
 original grant lords of the earth." 
 
 But the church contented itself with recording its doc- 
 trine. No rules of discipline were enforced. The slave- 
 holders remained in the church, adding slave to slave, 
 unmolested ; not on]y unmolested, but bearing the offices 
 of the church. In 1816 the General Assembly, while it 
 called slavery " a mournful evil," directed the erasure 
 of the note to the eighth commandment. In 1818, it 
 adopted an "expression of views," in which slavery is 
 called " a gross violation of the most precious and sacred 
 rights of human nature," but instead of requiring the 
 instant abandonment of this "violation of rights," the 
 Assembly exhorts the violators " to continue and increase 
 their exertions to effect a total abolition of slavery, with 
 no greater delay than a regard to the public welfare de- 
 mands;" and recommends that if a " Christian professor 
 shall sell a slave who is also in communion with our 
 church," without the consent of the slave, the seller should 
 be " suspended till he should repent and make reparation." 
 
 The reality of slavery in the Presbyterian church, since 
 1S18, ma}' be known from the following testimonies : 
 
 The Rev. James Smylie, A. M., of the Amite Presby- 
 tery, Mississippi, in a pamphlet published by him a short 
 time ago in favor of American slavery, says : 
 
 "If slavery he a sin, and advertising and apprehending slaves, 
 with a view to restore them to their masters, is a direct violation 
 of the Divine law, and \i the buying, selling, or holding a slave 
 for the sake of gain, is a heinous sin and scandal, then, verily, 
 
 THREE-FOURTHS OF ALL THE EPISCOPALIANS, METHODISTS, 
 
 Baptists, and Presbyterians in eleven States of the 
 Union, are of the devil. They ' hold,' if they do not buy and 
 sell slaves, and, with few exceptions, they hesitate not to 'appre- 
 hend and restore' runaway slaves, when in their power." 
 
 In 1834 the Synod of Kentucky appointed a committee 
 of twelve to report on the condition, &c, of the slaves. 
 This passage occurs in the report : 
 
 " Brutal stripes and all the various kinds of personal indignities 
 are not the only species of cruelty which slavery licenses The law 
 does not recognise the family relations of the slave, and extends to 
 him no protection in the enjoyment of domestic endearments. The 
 members of a slave family may be forcibly separated so that they 
 shall never more meet until the final judgment. And cupidity 
 
34 
 
 often induces the master? to practise what the law allows. Brcth- 
 re, parents and children, husbands ai 3 are torn 
 
 asunder, and permitted to see each other no more. These acis are 
 daily occurring in the midst of us. The shrieks and the ag ; . 
 often witnessed on such occasions, proclaim with a 
 tongue the iniquity and cruelty of our system. The cries of these 
 sufferers go up to the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. I 
 a neighborhood where these heart-rending scenes ai 
 played. There is not a village or road that does not behold the 
 sad procession of manacled outcasts, whose chains and mournful 
 countenances tell that they are exiled by force from all th. I 
 hearts hold dear. Our church,; - - of sol- 
 
 emn warning against this flagrant violation of every prir. . 
 mercy, justice, and humanity. Ye: we blush tc :oyou 
 
 and to the world that this warning has been often disregarded, 
 even by those who hold to our communion. Cksea have c : 
 in our own denomination wJu mercy 
 
 have torn the mother from '■ ■ to a mer- 
 
 ciless and returnless exile. Yet acts of discipline have rarely 
 [never! followed such cond 
 
 In 1S35, Mr. Stewart, of Illinois, a ruling elder, in a 
 speech urging the General Assembly of which he \ - . 
 member, to act on the subject of slavery, bear; - ----- 
 
 mony to the existing state : things in the Pics I . n 
 
 church : 
 
 " I hope this Assembly are prepared to come out : 
 clare their sent:: ts, that £ _• 
 
 heinous S12s. Let us not pass il 
 many tl - - I tens of I - - - 
 
 writhing un 
 elders of the ftarch. ...... 
 
 " iii this y take a free- rn child. : - 
 
 away from its • i God gave il 
 
 ad sell it as a beast 
 bondage, and not - - 
 
 esteemed ai Christian. _• .. 
 
 pel, and I>, _ _ 
 
 - 
 
 i both 
 
 - 
 
 Tno S P< bore is - was 
 
 made in s: - . . 
 
 meml - - - 
 
 Genera Iss _ ■ • 
 
 pies as ;;;.:"_ . . 
 
 was d s - 5s - I 
 
 moriali 
 
 
 
were known to be opposed to the prayer of the memorial- 
 ists), to report at the next session in 1836. 
 
 Ar the meeting of the Assembly in l s .'h'>. the first thing 
 that was done, to conciliate the excited slaveholders, was 
 to elect one of them to be Moderator. 
 
 The majority of the committee appointed in 1835, of 
 which the Rev. Samuel Miller, D. P.. and theological 
 professor, was chairman, did accordingly report at the 
 session of 1836, as follows: 
 
 "That after the most mature deliberation, which they have 
 been able to bestow on the interesting and important question re- 
 ferred to them, they would most respectfully recommend to the 
 
 General Assembly, the adoption of the following preamble and 
 resolution : 
 
 " Whereas, the subject of slavery is inseparably connected with 
 the laws of many of the states in this Union, with which it is by 
 no means proper for an ecclesiastical judicature to interfere, and 
 involves many considerations in regard to which great diversity 
 of opinion and intensity of feeling, are known to exist in the 
 churches represented in this Assembly : And whereas, there is 
 great reason to believe, that any action on the part of this Assem- 
 bly in reference to this subject, would tend to distract and divide 
 our churches, and would probably, in no wise promote the benefit 
 of those whose welfare is immediately contemplated in the memo- 
 rials in question,'' 
 
 Therefore, Resolved, — 
 
 1. "That it is not expedient for the Assembly to take any fur- 
 ther order in relation to this subject, 
 
 2. " That as the notes which have been expunged from our pub- 
 lic formularies, and which some of the memorials referred to the 
 committee request to have restored, were introduced irregularly — 
 never had the sanction of the church — and therefore, never pos- 
 sessed any authority — the General Assembly has no power, nor 
 would they think it expedient to assign them a place in the au- 
 thorized standards of the church.'' 
 
 The minority of the committee, the Reverend Messrs. 
 Dickey and Beman, reported the following resolutions: 
 Resolved, — 
 
 1. "That the buying, selling, or holding a human being as 
 property, is in the sight of God a heinous sin, and ought to subject 
 the doer of it to the censures of the church. 
 
 2. "That it is the duty of every one, and especially of every 
 Christian, who may be involved in this sin, to free himself from 
 its entanglement without delay. 
 
 3. •• That it is the duty of every one. especially of every Chris- 
 tian, in the meekness and firmness of the gospel, to plead the cause 
 
36 
 
 3e poor and needy by testifying; against the principle and prac- 
 ofslavehol _ . ".to use his best endeavors to deliver the 
 
 of th( 
 tiee 
 
 church of God from the evil: and to bring about the emancipa- 
 tion of the slaves in these United States, and throughout the 
 wor' 
 
 The slaveholding delegates to the number of forty- 
 eight, met apart, and Resolved. — 
 
 '• That if the General Assembly shall undertake to exercise au- 
 thority on the sul - .very, so as to make it an immorality, 
 or shall in any way declare that Christians are criminal in hold- 
 - ves. that a declaration shall be presented by the Southern 
 _ ion. declining their jurisdiction in the case, and our deter- 
 mination not to submit to such. decision." 
 
 n adjourned meeting they adopted the following 
 preamble and resolution, to be presented in the Assembly, 
 as a substitute for those of Dr. Miller : — 
 
 '•TYhereas*the subject of slavery is inseparably connected with 
 the laws of many of the states of this Union, in which it exists 
 under the sanction of said laws, and of the Constitution of the 
 United States : and whereas, slavery is recognized in both the 
 Old and New Testaments as an existing relation, and is not con- 
 demned by the authority of God : therefore, Resolved, — The Gen- 
 eral Assembly have no authority to assume or exercise jurisdic- 
 tion in regard to the existence of slavery."' 
 
 The whole subject was finally disposed of by the adop- 
 tion of the following preamble and resolution : — 
 
 ''Inasmuch as the Constitution of the Presbyterian church, in 
 its preliminary and fundamental principles, declares that no 
 church judicatories ought to pretend to make laws to bind the 
 conscience in virtue of their oicn authority ; and as the urgency 
 of the business of the Assembly, and the shortness of the time 
 during which they can continue in session, render it impossible 
 to deliberate and decide judiciously on the subject of slaverv in 
 its relation to the church : therefore, Eesolved,— That this whole 
 subject be indefinitely postponed." 
 
 A large number of memorials and petitions went up to 
 the General Assembly of 1837. They were referred to a 
 committee of which the Eev. Dr. Witherspoon, a slave- 
 holder of South Carolina — the same who was moderator 
 the year before — was chairman. After detaining 'them 
 till nearly the usual time for the final adjournment of the 
 Assembly, he reported that "the committee had had a 
 number of papers submitted to them from various Svnods, 
 churches, and individuals, men and women, on the subject 
 of slavery : and the committee had unanimously agreed 
 (with the exception of a single member) to direct that 
 
they be returned to the house, and that he should move 
 to lay the whole subject on the table," which was ac- 
 cordingly done by a vote of 97 to 28. 
 
 In 1838 the Presbyterian church separated on doctrinal 
 differences. Instead of one General Assembly^ there 
 now two, known as the "Old School'' and the ci New 
 School."' In the convention, which was held by the Old 
 School preparatory to separation it was Resolved, — 
 
 '• That in the judgment of this convention, it is of the greatest 
 consequence to the "best interests of our church" that subject 
 
 of slavery shall not be agitated or discussed in the sessi 3 oft 
 ensuing (General Assembly, and if any motion shall be made, or 
 resolution offered touching the same, this Convention is of opin- 
 ion that the members of Convention in that body ought to unite 
 in disposing of it, as far as may be possible, without deh 
 
 Since the separation the course of the Old School has 
 been regulated by the spirit of this resolution. It has 
 done nothing on the subject. 
 
 Petitions and memorials against slavery were presented 
 in the New School Assembly at its first session in 1" 
 and referred to a committee which reported " that the 
 applicants, for reasons satisfactory to themselves, have 
 withdrawn their papers." The committee was discharged. 
 
 In 1839 it referred the whole subject to the Presbyte- 
 ries, to do what they might deem advisable. 
 
 In 1S40 a large number of memorials and petitions 
 against slavery were sent in. and referred to the usual 
 committee. The committee reported a resolution, re- 
 ferring to what had been done last year, declaring it 
 inexpedient for the Assembly to do anytliivg farther on 
 the subject. Several attempts were made by the abolition 
 members of the Assembly to obtain a decided expression 
 of its views, but they proved ineffectual, and the whole 
 subject was indefinitely postj 7 . Why, it may be 
 asked, especially by those who at the time the separation 
 took place flattered themselves that the New School 
 would show itself really opposed to slavery. — Why has 
 such a result been brought about ? The answer is plain : ' 
 The New School Assembly is more solicitous to have the 
 favor of the few slaveholders who are members, than to 
 have the blessings of the poor who are perishing in their 
 grasp : more earnest to equal the Old School in numbers 
 than to outstrip it in righteousness. 
 
38 • 
 
 SENTIMENTS OF PRESBYTEEIES AND 
 
 SYNODS. 
 
 Although many of the influential Presbyterian ministers 
 in the free states, especially in the cities and large towns, 
 have shown themselves ready to second the slaveholding 
 ministers and laymen in their opposition to abolitionism, 
 from some cause it has happened that the free state Pres- 
 byteries and Synods have not committed themselves 
 directly on the question. They have attempted to stay 
 the progress of abolitionism by resolutions bearing on it 
 Indirectly, — but well understood by those who were to act 
 under them as intended to exclude, as far as was safe, the 
 question of abolition from the churches. 
 
 The following resolutions were passed by Presbyteries 
 and Synods in slave states : — - 
 
 HOPEWELL PRESBYTERY, SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 1. "Slavery has existed in the church of God from the time of 
 Abraham to this day. Members of the church of God have held 
 slaves bought with their money, and born in their houses; md 
 this relation is not only recognized, but its duties are denned 
 clearly, both in the Old and New Testaments. 
 
 2. " Emancipation is not mentioned among the duties of the 
 master to his slave, while obedience, ' even to the fro ward ' master, 
 is enjoined upon the slave. 
 
 3. " No instance can be produced of an otherwise orderly Chris- 
 tian being reproved, much less excommunicated from the 
 church, for the single act of holding domestic slaves, from the 
 days of Abraham down to the date of the modern abolitionist." 
 
 HARMONY PRESBYTERY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 " Whereas, Sundry persons in Scotland and England, and others 
 in the North, East, and West of our country, have denounced sla- 
 very as obnoxious to the laws of God, some of whom have pre- 
 sented before the geneial assembly of our church and the congress 
 of the nation memorials and petitions, with the avowed object of 
 bringing into disgrace slaveholders, and abolishing the relation of 
 master and slave; and whereas, from the said proceedings, and 
 the statements, reasonings, and circumstances connected there- 
 with, it is most manifest that those persons 'know not what they 
 say, nor whereof they affirm,' and with this ignorance discover a 
 spirit of self-righteousness and exclusive sanctity," &c. ; — 
 
 Therefore, 1. Eesolved, — 
 
 " That as the kingdom of our Lord is not of this world, His 
 church, as such, has no right to abolish, alter, or effect any insti- 
 tution or ordinance of men, political or civil," &c. 
 
39 
 
 2. Kesolved :— "That slavery has existed from the days of those 
 good old slaveholders and patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
 (who are now in the kingdom of heaven) to the time when the 
 Apostle Paul sent a rur.-away home to his master, Philemon, and 
 wrote a Christian and fraternal letter to this slaveholder, which 
 we find still stands in the canon of the Scriptures— and that slavery 
 has existed ever since the days of the Apostle, and does now exist." 
 
 3. Resolved :— "That as the relative duties of master and slave 
 are taught in the Scriptures, in the same manner as those of parent 
 and child, and husband and wife, the existence of slavery itself is 
 not opposed to the will of God ; and whosoever has a conscience 
 too tender to recognize this relation as lawful, is 'righteous over 
 much,' is « wise above what is written,' and has submitted his neck 
 to the yoke of men, sacrificed his Christian liberty of conscience, 
 and leaves the infallible word of God for the fancies and doctrines 
 of men." 
 
 CHARLESTON UNION PRESBYTERY. 
 
 " It is a principle which meets the views of this body, that slav- 
 ery, as it exists among us, is a political institution with which ec- 
 clesiastical judicatories have not the smallest right to interfere ; 
 and in relation to which any such interference, especially at the 
 present momentous crisis, would be morally wrong, and fraught 
 with the most dangerous and pernicious consequences. The senti- 
 ments which we maintain, in common with Christians at the South 
 of every denomination, are sentiments which so fully approve them- 
 selves to our consciences, are so identified with our solemn convic- 
 tions of duty, that we should maintain them under any circum- 
 stances." 
 
 Resolved, — 
 
 "That in the opinion of this Presbytery, the holding of slaves, 
 so far from being a sin in the sight of God, is no where condemned 
 in his holy word— that it is in accordance with the example, or 
 consistent with the precepts of patriarchs, apostles, and prophets, 
 and that it is compatible with the most fraternal regard to the best 
 good of those servants whom God may have committed to our 
 charge; and that, therefore, they who assume the contrary posi- 
 tion, and lay it down as a fundamental principle in morals and re- 
 ligion, that all slaveholding is wrong, proceed upon false prin- 
 ciples." 
 
 SYNOD OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA. 
 
 Resolved, unanimously, — [Dec, 1834]. 
 
 " That in the opinion of this synod, abolition societies, and the 
 principles on which they are founded in the United States, are 
 inconsistent with the interests of the slaves, the rights of the 
 holders, and the great principles of our political institution." 
 
 SYNOD OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 The committee to whom were referred the resolutions, &c, have 
 according to order, had the same under consideration— and re* 
 
40 
 
 spectfully report that in their judgment the following resolutions 
 are necessary and proper to be adopted by the Synod at the pres- 
 ent time : 
 
 Whereas, the publications and proceedings of certain organ- 
 ized associations, commonly called anti-slavery, or abolition soci- 
 eties, which have arisen in some parts of our land, have greatly 
 disturbed and are still greatly disturbing the peace of the church 
 am! of the country ; and the Synod of Virginia deem it a solemn 
 duty which they owe to themselves and to the community to de- 
 clare their sentiments upon the subject; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, unanimously, — 
 
 " That we consider the dogma fiercely promulgated by said asso- 
 ciations — that slavery as it exists in our slaveholding states is 
 necessarily sinful, and ought to be immediately abolished, and 
 the conclusions which naturally follow from that dogma, as di- 
 rectly and palpably contrary to the plainest principles of com- 
 mon sense and common humanity, and to the clearest authority 
 of the word of God." 
 
 The above are all of the Old School. The following is 
 from a slaveholding New School church, in Petersburg, 
 Virginia (16th Nov., 1838) :— 
 
 " Whereas, the General Assembly did, in the year 1818, pass 
 a law which contains provisions for slaves, irreconcilable with 
 our civil institutions, and solemnly declaring slavery to be sin 
 against God — a law at once offensive and insulting to the whole 
 Southern community," 
 
 1. Resolved, — 
 
 " That, as slaveholders, we cannot consent longer to remain in 
 connection withjiny church where there exists a statute confer- 
 ring the light upon slaves to arraign their masters before the 
 judicatory of the church — and that too for the act of selling them 
 without their consent first had and obtained." 
 
 2. Resolved, — 
 
 " That as the Great Head of the church has recognized the re- 
 lation of master and slave, we conscientiously believe that slavery 
 is not a sin against God as declared by the General Assembly." 
 
 3. Resolved, — 
 
 "That there is no tyranny more oppressive than that which is 
 sometimes sanctioned by the operation of ecclesiastical law." 
 
 SENTIMENTS OF PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS. 
 The Rev. Gardiner Spring, D. D., of New York: 
 At the anniversary of the American Colonization Soci- 
 ety at the city of Washington, in 1839, this gentleman 
 appeared on the platform as one of the speakers, with Mr. 
 
41 
 
 Henry D. Wise (M. C-), of Virginia, a slaveholder and 
 professed duelist. The latter had said in his speech, the 
 best way to meet the abolitionists was with ^Dupont's best " 
 [gunpowder] and cold steel. The Sun, one of the New- 
 York city journals, tells us — the Rev. Doctor spoke with 
 sympathy of the sentiments of the South as evinced in the 
 speech of Mr. Wise. 
 
 Since this, Dr. S. has preached a series of sermons to 
 his congregation on slavery in its scriptural relations. 
 These sermons have been printed, and are looked on by 
 the pro-slavery party as highly serviceable to their cause. 
 
 The Rev. Joel Parker, D. D., President of the Presby- 
 terian Theological Seminary, New York : 
 
 " Abolitionism might be pronounced a sin as well as slavery." 
 
 This was said, according to the American papers, at the 
 last session of the (N. S.) General Assembly, in support- 
 ing the proposition of a slaveholder, that " all action on 
 the subject of slavery, should be declared by that body 
 beyond its relations and functions." 
 
 The Rev. Dr. P., at the beginning of the anti-slavery 
 movement in the United States, was an abolitionist. He 
 was sent to New Orleans, being thought eminently fitted 
 as a Christian minister, to contend against the prevailing 
 iniquities of that slaveholding city. He had not been 
 there long, before he became a colonizationist. He hap- 
 pened to be at Alton, Illinois, at the time the mob spirit 
 was beginning to show its bloody intents toward the Rev. 
 Mr. Lovejoy. His injurious remarks in public against 
 the abolitionists were thought to have contributed to ex- 
 cite the mob to the fatal issue which took place. He 
 afterwards returned to New York ; was elected pastor of 
 the Tabernacle church, of which Mr. Lewis Tappan was 
 a member; resisted the formation by that gentleman of 
 an anti-slavery society among the members of the church ; 
 prosecuted Mr. T. before the church session, on various 
 charges, with a view of ejecting him from the church, and 
 has, generally, since his return to New York, distinguish- 
 ed himself by bitterness of spirit and language against 
 the anti-slavey cause. Since all ivhich, he has been 
 made a D. D. and President of the (N. S.) Theological 
 Seminary in New York. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel H. Cox ; D. D. ; of the city of Brook- 
 
42 
 
 ]yn, moved the indefinite postponement of the slavery 
 question at the last (N. S.) General Assembly. On the 
 motion being carried he exultingly said, " Our Vesuvius 
 is safely capped for three years" — the Assembly not 
 meeting again till 184o. Dr. Cox was at one time an 
 abolitionist. 
 
 The Rev. William S. Plummer, D. D., of Richmond: 
 
 [This gentleman is the leader of the Old School party. 
 He was absent from Richmond at the time the clergy in 
 that city purged themselves in a body, from the charge of 
 being favorably disposed to abolition. [See page 14.] 
 On liis return, he lost no time in communicating to the 
 '• Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence," his 
 agreement with his clerical brethen. The passages quot- 
 ed occur in his letter to the chairman.] 
 
 "I have carefully watched this matter from its earliest exist- 
 ence, and everything I have seen or heard of its character, both 
 from its patrons and its enemies, has confirmed me, beyond repent- 
 ance, in the belief, that, let the character of Abolitionists be what 
 it may, in the sight of the Judge of all the earth this is the most 
 meddlesome, impudent, reckless, fierce, and wicked excitement I 
 ever saw. 
 
 " If Abolitionists will set the country in a blaze, it is but fair 
 that they should receive the first warming at the fire. 
 
 " Let it be proclaimed throughout the nation that every move- 
 ment made by the fanatics (so far as it has any effect in the South) 
 does but rivet every fetter of the bondsman — diminish the proba- 
 bility of anything being successfully undertaken for making him 
 either fit for freedom or likely to obtain it. "We have the author- 
 ity of Montesquieu, Burke, and Coleridge, three eminent masters 
 of the science of human nature, that of all men slaveholders are 
 the most jealous of their liberties. One of Pennsylvania's most 
 gifted sons has lately pronounced the South the cradle of liberty. 
 
 "Lastly — Abolitionists are like infidels, wholly unaddicted to 
 martyrdom for opinion's sake. Let them understand that they 
 will be caught [lynched] if they come anions; us, and they will 
 take good heed to keep out of our way. There is not one man 
 among them who has any more idea of shedding his blood in this 
 cause than he has of making war on the Grand Turk." 
 
 Rev. Thomas S. Witherspoon, of Alabama, writing to 
 the editor of the Emancipator : 
 
 "I draw my warrant from the scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testaments to hold the slave in bondage. The principle of hold- 
 ing the heathen in bondage is recognized by God. . . . When 
 the tardy process of the law is too long in redressing our griev- 
 ances, we of the South have adopted the summary remedy of 
 
43 
 
 Judge Lynch ; and really, I think it one of the most wholesome 
 and salutary remedies for the malady of Northern fanaticism that 
 can be applied, and no doubt my worthy friend, the editor of 
 the Emancipator and Human Eights, would feel the better of 
 its enforcement, provided he had a Southern administrator. I go 
 to the Bible for my warrant in all moral matters. . . Let your 
 emissaries dare venture to cross the Potomac, and I cannot 
 promise you that their fate will be less than Hainan's. -Then 
 beware how you goad an insulted, but magnanimous people to 
 deeds of desperation." 
 
 Rev. Bobert 1ST. Anderson, of Virginia : 
 
 "To the Sessions of the Presbyterian Congregations 
 within the bounds of the West Hanover Presbytery :" 
 
 "At the approaching stated meeting of our Presbytery, I 
 design to offer a preamble and string of resolutions on the subject 
 of the use of wine in the Lord's Supper; and also a preamble 
 and string of resolutions on the subject of the treasonable and 
 abominably wicked interference of the Northern and Eastern 
 fanatics, with our political and civil rights, our property, and 
 our domestic concerns. You are aware that our clergy, whether 
 with or without reason, are more suspected by the public, than 
 the clergy of other denominations. Now. dear Christian breth- 
 ren, I humbly express it as my earnest wish, that you quit your- 
 selves like men. If there be any stray goat of a minister among 
 you, tainted with the blood-hound principles of abolitionism, let 
 him be ferreted out, silenced, excommunicated, and left to the 
 public to dispose of him in other respects. 
 
 "Your affectionate brother in the Lord, 
 
 Robert N. Anderson." 
 
 THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. . 
 
 The number of members in this church is not known. 
 It is, however, small when compared with the number in 
 any of the churches that have been mentioned. Its con- 
 gregations are mostly in the cities and towns, and they 
 generally consist of persons in the wealthier classes of 
 society. This, together with the smallness of its numbers 
 and the authority of the bishops, has prevented it from 
 being much agitated with the anti-slavery question. Its 
 leading ministers, so far as they concern themselves at all 
 about the slavery question, are in favor of the American 
 colonization scheme. Their influence is, therefore, de- 
 cidedly adverse to emancipation. The prevailing temper 
 of the Protestant Episcopal church is thus testified of by 
 John Jay, Esq., of the city of New York, himself an 
 Episcopalian, in a pamphlet entitled, "Thoughts on the 
 duty of the Episcopal church in relation to Slavery :" 
 
44 
 
 "Alas ! for the expectation that she would conform to the spirit 
 of her ancient mother! She has not merely remained a mute and 
 careless spectator of this great conflict of truth and justice with 
 hypocrisy and cruelty, but her very priests and deacons may be j 
 seen ministering at the altar of slavery, offering their talents and ! 
 influence at its unholy shrine, and openly repeating the awful 
 blasphemy, that the precepts of our Saviour sanction the system of 
 American slavery. Her Northern (free State) clergy, with rare 
 exceptions, whatever they may feel upon this subject, rebuke it 
 neither in public nor in private; and her periodicals, far from 
 advancing the progress of abolition, at times oppose our societies, 
 impliedly defendingslavery, as not incompatible with Christianity, 
 and occasionally withholding information useful to the cause of 
 freedom." 
 
 Although apparently desirous of keeping clear of all 
 connection with the anti-slavery movement, the Episco- 
 palians have not failed when a suitable opportunity pre- 
 sented itself to throw their influence against it. 
 
 The Eev. Peter Williams, rector of St. Philip's church, I 
 New York, a colored gentlemen, was one of the executive 
 committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, in 
 1834, when the abolitionists were exposed in their persons , 
 and property to the fiercest onsets of pro-slavery mobs. 1 
 The Bishop of the diocese (Rev. Benjamin F. Onderdonk, 
 D. D.) required of Mr. Williams to relinquish his place 
 in the committee, to which requisition Mr. W. thought it 
 his duty to conform. 
 
 Bishop Bowen, of Charleston, South Carolina, not long 
 after the meeting in that city, in which the "reverend 
 gentlemen of the clergy," had so handsomely and unani- 
 mously "responded to public sentiment," volunteered in 
 an address to the Convention of his diocese, a denuncia- 
 tion of the "malignant philanthropy of abolition," and 
 contrasted " the savageism and outlawry consequent on 
 abolition," with "domestic servitude under the benign 
 influence of Christian principles and Christian institu- 
 tions ! " — principles and institutions which denied Sunday 
 School instruction to free colored children, and which, at 
 the very time of the Address, tolerated the offer in the 
 Charleston Courier of fifty dollars for the head of a fugi- 
 tive slave — principles and institutions which led Mr. Pres- 
 ton to declare in his place as a Senator of the United 
 States, " Let an abolitionist come within the borders of 
 South Carolina — if we can catch him we will hang him." 
 
45 
 
 In 1836, a clergyman in North Carolina, of the name 
 of Freeman, preached in the presence of his bishop (Rev. 
 Levi S. Ives, D. D , a native of a free state), two sermons 
 on the rights and duties of slaveholders. In these he 
 essayed to justify from the Bible the slavery both of 
 white men and negroes, and insisted that " without a new 
 revelation from heaven no man was authorized to pro- 
 nounce slavery wrong." The sermons were printed in a 
 pamphlet, prefaced with a letter to Mr. Freeman from the 
 bishop of North Carolina, declaring that he had "listened 
 with most unfeigned pleasure " to his discourses, and 
 advised their publication as being " urgently called for at 
 the present time." 
 
 " The Protestant Episcopal Society for the advance- 
 ment of Christianity in South Carolina'* thought it expe- 
 dient, and in all likelihood with Bishop Bowen's approba- 
 tion, to republish Mr. Freeman's pamphlet as a religions 
 tract /" 
 
 The Churchman is edited by a Doctor of Divinity, late 
 an instructor in a theological seminary, and enjoys the 
 especial patronage of the Bishop of New York, and was 
 recently officially recommended by him to the favor of the 
 convention. The editor has frequently assailed the abo- 
 litionists in his columns in bitter andcontemptuous terms. 
 He has even volunteered to defend the most cruel and 
 iniquitous enactment of the slave code. In reference to 
 the legal prohibition of teaching the colored population to 
 read, the editor says : 
 
 "All the knowledge which is necessary to salvation, all the 
 knowledge of our duty toward God, and our duty toward our 
 neighbor, may be communicated by oral instruction, and there- 
 fore a law of the land interdicting other means of instruction does 
 not trench upon the law of God." 
 
 A certain congregation in the diocese of New York is 
 said to hold its cemetery by a tenure which forbids the 
 interment of any colored person ; so that if an Episcopal 
 colored clergyman happen to die in that parish, he would 
 be indebted to others than his Episcopal brethren for a 
 grave ! 
 
 There are instances of regularly ordained ministers, 
 rectors of parishes, men having as valid a commission to 
 preach the gospel as any other presbyters in the Episcopal 
 church, who are virtually denied a seat in her Ecclesias- 
 
46 
 
 tical councils, solely because they are men of color. The 
 rector of a colored church in Philadelphia, is excluded by 
 an express canon of the Diocesan Convention. 
 
 " The General Theological Seminary of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
 States," is in the city of New York. It is called the 
 General Seminary, because it is under the superintendence 
 of the whole church ; the board of trustees being composed 
 of the Bishops, ex-officio, and upwards of one hundred 
 clerical and lay gentlemen, representing the different 
 states and territories of the Union. It was intended, of 
 course, for the theological education of the Protestant 
 Episcopal ministry. 
 
 Alexander Crummel, a colored young gentleman of 
 New York, made application to become a " candidate for 
 hory orders" in the church, and was duly admitted as 
 such. In due time Mr. Crummel received from the 
 Bishop of the diocese the usual circular in such cases, in 
 which he was told " unless you belong to the General 
 Theological Seminary, as it is my wish that all the candi- 
 dates of this diocese should, when not prevented by una- 
 voidable circumstances, you will be governed," &c. 
 
 The section in the statutes of the seminary regulating 
 admission is plain arid imperative: — "Every person pro- 
 ducing to the faculty satisfactory evidence of his having 
 been admitted a candidate for holy orders/" &c, "shall be 
 received as a student of the seminary." 
 
 It does not appear from the only account we have at 
 hand, of this matter, that Mr. Crummel made application 
 to the faculty. It is, however, to be presumed he did, and 
 that the faculty put him off by referring him to the board 
 of trustees. To the board, then, he made his application, 
 of which an account is given in the following 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES: 
 
 Tuesday, June 25th, 1839. 
 " A communication from Mr. Crummel, asking admission to 
 the Seminary as a student, was read, and on motion referred to a 
 Committee consisting of the following gentlemen, appointed by 
 the chair : Eight Rev. Bishop Doane, Rev. Drs. Milnor, Taylor, 
 and Smith, Messrs. D. B. Ogden, Newton, and Johnson." 
 
 June 2Gth, 1839. 
 " The Right Rev. Bishop Doane, chairman of the committee on 
 the petition of Mr. Crummel, asked to be relieved from further 
 service on that committee, which request was granted. 
 
47 
 
 "The Right Rev. Bishop Onderdonk, of Pennsylvania, was on 
 motion appointed chairman of the committee, to fill the vacancy 
 thus occasioned." 
 
 June 27th, 1839. 
 
 " The committee on the petition of Mr. Crummel, submitted 
 the following: 
 
 "The committee to whom was referred the petition of Mr. 
 Crummel, respectfully report, that having deliberately considered 
 the said petition, they are of opinion that it ought not to be 
 granted, and thev accordingly recommend to the Board of Trus- 
 tees the following resolution : Resolved, That the prayer of the 
 petitioner be not granted. 
 
 "The Rev. Dr. Hawks,* moved that the resolution recom- 
 mended in the report be adopted." 
 
 Mr. Huntington moved, — 
 
 "That the whole subject be recommitted, with instructions to 
 the committee to report, that the matters embraced in the petition 
 of Mr. Crummel are, according to Section 1, of Chap. VII. of the 
 Statutes, referrible to the faculty rather than this board." 
 
 [This motion was lost, through fear, we are constrained 
 to believe, lest the faculty would not, if compelled to act, 
 refuse to Mr. Crummel a right that was so obviously his.] 
 
 " Whereupon the question upon accepting the report and 
 adopting the resolution recommended, was taken up and decided 
 in the affirmative. 
 
 "The Right Rev. Bishop Doane gave notice, that he should, on 
 the morrow, ask leave to present to the board, and to enter upon 
 the minutes & protest against the decision. 
 
 Friday, June 28th. 
 
 "The Right Rev. Bishop Doane, who had yesterday given no- 
 tice of his intention to ask leave to enter a protest, &c, changed 
 his intention as to the manner of presenting the subject, and 
 asked leave to state to the board his reasons, with a view to the 
 entering of the same on the minutes, for dissenting from the vote 
 of the majority on the report of the committee, to whom was re- 
 ferred the petition of Mr. Crummel. Leave was not granted." 
 
 During these proceedings, attempts were made by the 
 Bishop of New York to prevail on Mr. Crummel to with- 
 draw his application for admission, by assuring him "the 
 members of the faculty were willing to impart to him 
 [private - ] instruction in their respective departments ; and 
 that more evil than benefit would result both to the 
 church and himself, by a formal application in his behalf 
 for admission into the seminary." 
 
 * Dr. Hawks is the Historian of the Kpiscopal church in the United States. 
 If it be true, a* we have seen stated in an American newspaper, that tins 
 gentleman is himself of mixed blood— and his complexion a little favors the 
 statement— it proves that the admixture does not deteriorate the intellectual 
 powers; for in the oratory of the pulpit, and as a writer, Dr. H. stands, de- 
 servedly, among the distinguished men of America. 
 
reader will not have failed to notice with what 
 every allusion to the cause of refusing Mr. Crummel 
 led from the minutes, and to feel that 
 . fact that the cause a y in the 
 
 minutes — leaving it to be inferred, that i: was for some- 
 thin, - - :orded there — is an act of injustice 
 to him that ts of 36-* 
 
 : New York, jealous for the honor 
 blis] 1 in one of the journals of that 
 mt of thes gs The Bishop of 
 
 N 7 :k made a si . - ; : but one of his state- 
 ments (an immaterial one), and concluded by say: _. 
 
 -. he 
 by any appeal that might 
 -' ling. 
 
 ' POSTSCRIPT. 
 TTe would hare the reader bear in mind, that the fore- 
 goi: ig sents but one side of the anti-slavery cause in 
 the several churches whos - ■ 
 
 1 that in them all. there are aboli:. sta .rn- 
 g - purify them from the defilements : 
 . and that they have strong encourage men - : 
 t only in view of what they have already 
 rd that end. but in tl s< ' increase of 
 their numbers, and in other ome: Es 
 
 vish him also to bear in mind, that the churches 
 which have been br _ :m are not the only 
 
 in churches which are guilty in givi: _ un- 
 
 paid 
 examine their cases, would be 
 this work t . : . : be object we hav~ 
 
 — _'..'- -how substan- 
 
 stj n in Am far 
 
 Lastly.— .inghim that there 
 
 are ' - s of 1 - . and 
 
 I - me of the 
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 - abominations. 
 
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